Jana Laššáková ( Murcková; born 22 May 1952) is a Slovak politician and lawyer. In 2002–2017, she was a

Member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the National Council. From 2017 to 2023 she has served as a Justice of the

Constitutional Court of Slovakia The Constitutional Court of Slovakia (officially Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic, ) is a special court established by the Constitution of Slovakia. Its seat is in Košice in eastern Slovakia. Its head is Ivan Fiačan (since 2019). Ta ...

Legal career

Laššáková was born in the village of in Plavnica. She studied law at the

Comenius University Comenius University Bratislava () is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is named after Jan Amos Comenius, a 17th-century ...

, graduating in 1976. After graduation she worked as an in-house counsel for various companies as well as an attorney.

Political career

Laššáková served as the Chairwoman of the

Direction – Social Democracy Direction – Social Democracy (, Smer–SD), also commonly referred to as Smer, is a left-wing nationalism, left-wing nationalist and left-wing populism, left-wing populist political party in Slovakia led by the incumbent Prime Minister of Slov ...

in the

Banská Bystrica region The Banská Bystrica Region (, ; , ) is one of the eight regions of Slovakia. It is the largest of the eight regions by area, and has a lower population density than any other region. The Banská Bystrica Region was established in 1923; its bord ...

since its founding. In 2002 she became an MP. In 2012, she became the Leader of the

caucus. In this position she gained notoriety for using thumb up/thumb down gestures to inform her fellow caucus members how they should vote. In 2017 she was chosen a Justice of the

by the parliament. The confirmation of her appointment by president

Andrej Kiska Andrej Kiska (; born 2 February 1963) is a Slovak politician, entrepreneur, writer and philanthropist who served as the fourth president of Slovakia from 2014 to 2019. He ran as an Independent politician, independent candidate in the 2014 Slova ...

got delayed as the president was unconvinced by the expertise of the parliament's choices and requested clarification from the

as to whether he is allowed not to confirm the candidates. Upon courts' ruling confirming the president has to confirm parliament's nominees, Laššáková was confirmed. Upon joining the Constitutional Court, she gave up all her political and party functions. On 5 September 2023, she retired from the Court.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laššáková, Jana 1952 births Living people People from Stará Ľubovňa District Direction – Social Democracy politicians Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2002-2006 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2006-2010 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2010-2012 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2012–2016 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2016–2020 Women members of the National Council (Slovakia) 21st-century Slovak women politicians Slovak jurists 21st-century women judges Comenius University alumni