The Constitutional Court of Ecuador (Spanish: ''Corte Constitucional del Ecuador''), previously the Constitutional Tribunal of Ecuador (''Tribunal Constitucional del Ecuador'') is the

constitutional court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

History

The Court was created as part of Ecuador's 1996 constitutional reform package. It is composed of nine

magistrates The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

. The Court has been affected by Ecuador's recent political crises. In 2005, President

Lucio Gutiérrez Lucio Edwin Gutiérrez Borbúa (born 23 March 1957 in Quito) served as 43rd President of Ecuador from 15 January 2003 to 20 April 2005. Early life Lucio Gutierrez, in full Lucio Edwin Gutiérrez Borbua, (born 23 March 1957, Quito, Ecuador), ...

manipulated his party's modest advantage in

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

to replace numerous justices, including eight of nine members of the Court . In 2007, the Court was involved in a confrontation with newly elected President

Rafael Correa Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado (; born 6 April 1963), known as Rafael Correa, is an Ecuadorian politician and economist who served as President of Ecuador from 2007 to 2017. The leader of the PAIS Alliance political movement from its foundation ...

. On March 9, the Court warned Correa that he would be acting illegally if he ignored its eventual ruling on the constitutionality of a national referendum. Correa responded that the Tribunal was "dominated by the political parties" and that it had no authority to act on the issue. The Court's rulings have often been ignored by Ecuador's presidents and Congress.

Notable decisions

In the 1997 case 111-97-TC, the Court decriminalized homosexuality in Ecuador. In the 2019 case 11-18-CN/19, the Court legalized

same-sex marriage in Ecuador Same-sex marriage in Ecuador has been legal since 8 July 2019 in accordance with a Constitutional Court ruling issued on 12 June 2019 that the ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional under the Constitution of Ecuador. The ruling took effect ...

References

External links

*{{official, https://www.corteconstitucional.gob.ec/ Law of Ecuador Politics of Ecuador

1996 establishments in Ecuador