The Constitutional Court of Chile (''Tribunal Constitucional de Chile'' in Spanish) is

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

constitutional tribunal 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 ...

. It is not part of the judicial branch and is functionally independent of the

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 ...

and the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

. The court is housed in the Ex Caja de Crédito Hipotecario building, which is located at 1234

Huérfanos Street Huérfanos Street is an east-west street in downtown Santiago, Chile. The word huérfanos is Spanish for orphans and the street is so named because an orphanage that was built here in 1758. Description Huérfanos Street's eastern end originates we ...

in downtown

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

History

The Constitutional Court was created in 1970, under the Constitution of 1925. In 1973, after the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

, it was dissolved, but the 1980 Constitution reinstated it. Until 2005, some members were designated by the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...

(a civic-military committee).

Attributions

According to the Chilean constitution, its principal attribution is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e., whether they conflict with constitutionally established rights and freedoms. This function not only applies to legislative acts, but also to judicial decrees (''autoacordados''), presidential decrees (''Decretos con Fuerza de Ley''), or even ordinary decrees when the Comptroller-General deems it to be unconstitutional. Also, the Court has attributions on the convocation to referendums, outlawing groups or parties which seriously violate the institutional order, deposing members of Congress who seriously infringe the constitution, resolving conflicts between lower courts and administrative agencies, and many others.

Ministers

The Constitutional Court is composed of ten members, called Ministers: * 3 appointed by the President of the Republic * 3 elected by the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

* 2 elected by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

by a two-thirds majority * 2 proposed by the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

by a two-thirds majority and confirmed by the Senate by the same margin Members have nine-year terms, renewed by thirds every three years, and can not be re-elected. The Constitutional Court can work as a United Court (''Pleno'') or divided in two Chambers (''Salas''). In the event a quorum is below the legally required, deputy ministers (''ministros suplentes''), or substitute attorneys (''abogados integrantes'') are designated. The court's president has the power to break a tie.

External links

*
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Constitutional Court of Chile Judiciary of Chile Government of Chile Constitutional courts 1970 in Chilean law 1970 establishments in Chile 1973 disestablishments in Chile 1980 establishments in Chile Courts and tribunals established in 1970 Courts and tribunals disestablished in 1973 Courts and tribunals established in 1980