Constitutional Court of Slovenia explained

Court Name:	Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia
Native Name:	German: Ustavno sodišče Republike Slovenije
Established:	1991
Website:	https://www.us-rs.si
Jurisdiction:	Republic of Slovenia
Location:	Ljubljana, Slovenia
Type:	Election by National Assembly of Slovenia
Authority:	Constitution of Slovenia
Terms:	9 years (no mandatory retirement)
Positions:	9
Chiefjudgetitle:	President
Chiefjudgename:	Dr. Matej Accetto
Termstart:	19 December 2021
Chiefjudgetitle2:	Vice President
Chiefjudgename2:	Dr. Rok Čeferin
Termstart2:	19 December 2021

The Constitutional Court of Slovenia (in Slovene: Ustavno sodišče Republike Slovenije, US RS) is a special court established by the Slovenian Constitution. Since its inception, the Court has been located in the city of Ljubljana. It is the highest court in the country for reviewing the constitutionality and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, otherwise the highest court in the country is the Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia. The constitutional court is not part of any branch of government (not even the judiciary) and is an independent state body.^[1]

The main responsibilities of the Constitutional Court include:

• reviewing the constitutionality and legality of laws and other regulations,
• deciding on constitutional complaints (violations of human rights) against the decisions of other state bodies,
• and certain other responsibilities related to elections and jurisdiction.

The seat of the Court is in Ljubljana in a Plečnik's Palace, designed by a famous Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik.^[2]

Jurisdiction

Most powers of the Constitutional Court are explicitly determined by the Constitution. In accordance with the Constitution (§160), the Constitutional Court decides on:

• the conformity of laws with the Constitution and of laws and other regulations with ratified treaties and with the general principles of international law;
• the conformity of regulations with the Constitution and with laws;
• the conformity of local community regulations with the Constitution and with laws;
• the conformity of general acts issued for the exercise of public authority with the Constitution, laws, and regulations;
• constitutional complaints stemming from the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms by individual acts;
• on jurisdictional disputes between the state and local communities and among local communities themselves; between courts and other state authorities; and between the National Assembly, the President of the Republic, and the Government;
• the unconstitutionality of the acts and activities of political parties;
• other matters vested by the Constitution (e.g. deciding on an impeachment charges against the prime minister or president; conformity of international treaties with the Constitution before its ratification; appeals against a National Assembly decision on the election of Slovenian members to the European Parliament; admissibility of a National Assembly decision not to call a referendum on the confirmation of constitutional amendments;).^[3]

Procedures

The Constitutional Court has several strictly defined procedures in which cases may be brought before it. Procedures are regulated by the Constitutional Court Act.

Constitutional Court decides by a majority vote of all its judges unless otherwise provided for individual cases by the Constitution or law. Decisions of the Court are binding for all.

Procedure for the review of the constitutionality and legality

The procedure for the review of the constitutionality and legality of regulations and general acts issued for the exercise of public authority is initiated by:

1. submission of a written request by an applicant (specific state bodies); or
2. by a Constitutional Court order on the acceptance of a petition by a private citizen, whose legal interests were affected, to initiate a review procedure.

Written request can be submitted by any court, the National Assembly, one third of MPs, the National Council, the Government, the Ombudsman, the Information Commissioner, the Bank of Slovenia, the State Prosecutor General, representative bodies of local communities, a representative association of local communities, and national representative trade unions.

In this procedure the Court may:

• find that the law or other regulation is in conformity with the Constitution or law;
• in whole or in part abrogate an Act which is not in conformity with the Constitution;
• annul or abrogate other regulations (Act cannot be annulled or abrogated).

Constitutional complaint

Constitutional complaint is possible in case of to a violation of human rights or fundamental freedoms against individual acts of state or local authorities.

A complaint may be lodged by:

• an individual whose were violated,; or
• the Ombudsman in connection with an individual case that he is dealing with.

Complaint is not allowed until after all legal remedies have been exhausted.

In this procedure the Court may:

• dismiss a constitutional complaint as unfounded;
• in whole or in part annuls or abrogates the individual act, and remands the case to the authority competent to decide thereon.

Landmark decisions

• Tito street decision, U-I-109/10 of 3 October 2011.

Composition

The court consists of 9 judges, who are elected by the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia for a non-renewable 9-year term on the proposal of the President of the Republic. Before replacing a judge after the end of their term, a new judge must first be elected. If this does not happen by the end of the judge's term, that judge's term will be extended until a new judge is elected (e.g. judge Dunja Jadek Pensa served for more than 10 years before political consensus was reached to elect judge Rok Svetlič in 2021).

Judges are elected from among legal experts, who are Slovenian citizens and at least 40 years of age, but they do not have to meet the conditions that apply to the election of judges of regular courts. Among other things, the judges of the Constitutional Court do not need a state legal exam, which allows, for example, university professors to be elected as judges of the court.

After election, a new judge must take the following oath before the National Assembly: "I swear that I shall judge according to the Constitution, the law, and my conscience and that I shall strive with all my power for constitutionality, legality, and the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms."

Judges elect a president and vice-president of the Court among themselves for a term of three years by a secret ballot.

List of judges

Judge! colspan="3"

Term	Succession	Nominated by	Other positions	^[4]
1		Janez Šinkovec (1928-2016)	25 June 1991		8 January 1998		1	President Milan Kučan
2		Lovro Šturm (1938-2021)	25 June 1991		19 December 1998		1		President of the Court (1997-1998)
3		Peter Jambrek (1940-)	25 June 1991		19 December 1998		1		President of the Court (1991-1994)
4		Anton Perenič (1941-)	25 June 1991		30 September 1992		1
5		Anton (Tone) Jerovšek (1941-)	25 June 1991		19 December 1998		1		President of the Court (1994-1997)
6		Matevž Krivic (1942-)	25 June 1991		19 December 1998		1
7		Janez Snoj (1934-2005)	12 February 1992		31 March 1998		1
8		Lojze Ude (1936-)	25 May 1993		24 May 2002		1
9		Boštjan M. Zupančič (1947-)	25 May 1993		31 October 1998		1
10		Franc Testen (1948-)	25 May 1993		24 May 2002		2 - Succeeding Judge (4) Perenič		President of the Court (1998-2001)
11		Miroslava Geč-Korošec (1939-2002)	9 January 1998		1 October 2000		2 - Succeeding Judge (1) Šinkovec
12		Dragica Wedam Lukić (1949-)	1 April 1998		31 March 2007		2 - Succeeding Judge (7) Snoj		President of the Court (2001-2004)
13		Janez Čebulj (1957-)	31 October 1998		27 March 2008		2 - Succeeding Judge (3) Jambrek		Secretary of the Court (1993-1998) President of the Court (2004-2007)
14		Lojze Janko (1943-)	31 October 1998		31 October 2007		2 - Succeeding Judge (6) Krivic
15		Mirjam Škrk (1947-)	31 October 1998		27 March 2008		2 - Succeeding Judge (2) Šturm
16		Milojka Modrijan (1945-)	1 November 1998		20 November 2007		2 - Succeeding Judge (9) Zupančič
17		Zvonko Fišer (1949-)	18 December 1998		27 March 2008		2 - Succeeding Judge (5) Jerovšek
19		Ciril Ribičič (1947-)	19 December 2000		18 December 2009		3 - Succeeding Judge (11) Geč-Korošec	President Janez Drnovšek
20		Jože Tratnik (1941-)	25 May 2002		17 July 2011		2 - Succeeding Judge (8) Ude		President of the Court (2007-2010)
21		Marija Krisper Kramberger (1946-)	25 May 2002		13 September 2010		3 - Succeeding Judge (10) Testen
18		Franc Grad (1948-)	1 April 2007		31 January 2008		3 - Succeeding Judge (12) Wedam Lukić
22		Miroslav Mozetič (1950-)	31 October 2007		30 October 2016		3 - Succeeding Judge (14) Janko		President of the Court (2013-2016)
23		Marta Klampfer (1953-2016)	20 November 2007		19 November 2016		3 - Succeeding Judge (16) Modrijan
24		Mitja Deisinger (1942-)	27 March 2008		26 March 2017		3 - Succeeding Judge (17) Fišer	President Danilo Türk
25		Jasna Pogačar (1953-)	27 March 2008		26 March 2017		3 - Succeeding Judge (13) Čebulj
26		Jan Zobec (1954-)	27 March 2008		26 March 2017		4 - Succeeding Judge (18) Grad
27		Ernest Petrič (1936-)	25 April 2008		24 April 2017		3 - Succeeding Judge (15) Škrk		President of the Court (2010-2013)
28		Jadranka Sovdat (1960-)	19 December 2009		18 December 2018		4 - Succeeding Judge (19) Ribičič		Secretary of the Court (1999-2009) President of the Court (2016-2018)
29		Etelka Korpič-Horvat (1948-)	29 September 2010		27 September 2019		4 - Succeeding Judge (21) Krisper Kramberger
30		Dunja Jadek Pensa (1959-)	15 July 2011		9 November 2021		3 - Succeeding Judge (20) Tratnik
31		Špelca Mežnar (1976-)	31 October 2016		Incumbent		4 - Succeeding Judge (22) Mozetič	President Borut Pahor
32		Marko Šorli (1946-)	20 November 2016		Incumbent		4 - Succeeding Judge (23) Klampfer
33		Marijan Pavčnik (1946-)	27 March 2017		31 December 2022		4 - Succeeding Judge (24) Deisinger
34		Matej Accetto (1974-)	27 March 2017		Incumbent		4 - Succeeding Judge (25) Pogačar		President of the Court (2021-)
35		Klemen Jaklič (1975-)	27 March 2017		Incumbent		5 - Succeeding Judge (26) Zobec
36		Rajko Knez (1969-)	27 March 2017		Incumbent		4 - Succeeding Judge (27) Petrič		President of the Court (2018-2021)
37		Katja Šugman Stubbs (1966-)	19 December 2018		Incumbent		5 - Succeeding Judge (28) Sovdat
38		Rok Čeferin (1964-)	27 September 2019		Incumbent		5 - Succeeding Judge (29) Korpič-Horvat
39		Rok Svetlič (1973-)	10 November 2021		Incumbent		4 - Succeeding Judge (30) Jadek Pensa
40		Neža Kogovšek Šalamon (1978-)	1 January 2023		Incumbent		5 - Succeeding Judge (33) Pavčnik

Timeline

Presidents of the Court

Term

1	Peter Jambrek	25 June 1991	24 April 1994
2	Tone Jerovšek	25 April 1994	24 April 1997
3	Lovro Šturm	25 April 1997	30 October 1998
4	Franc Testen	11 November 1998	10 November 2001
5	Dragica Wedam Lukić	11 November 2001	10 November 2004
6	Janez Čebulj	11 November 2004	10 November 2007
7	Jože Tratnik	11 November 2007	10 November 2010
8	Ernest Petrič	11 November 2010	10 November 2013
9	Miroslav Mozetič	11 November 2013	30 October 2016
10	Jadranka Sovdat	31 October 2016	18 December 2018
11	Rajko Knez	18 December 2018	18 December 2021
11	Matej Accetto	19 December 2021	Incumbent

Secretaries-General of the Court

	Judge	Term
1	Milan Baškovič	25 June 1991	28 February 1993
2	Janez Čebulj	1 May 1993	30 October 1998
3	Jadranka Sovdat	29 January 1999	18 December 2009
4	Erik Kerševan	1 February 2010	31 July 2012
5	Sebastian Nerad	3 October 2012	Incumbent

See also

• Constitution
• Constitutionalism
• Constitutional economics
• Jurisprudence
• Judiciary
• Rule of law
• Rule According to Higher Law

External links

• Constitutional Court of Slovenia (official web page)

Notes and References

1. http://pisrs.si/Pis.web/pregledPredpisa?id=ZAKO325 Zakon o ustavnem sodišču
2. Web site: Plečnikova palača – Ustavno sodišče Republike Slovenije . 2023-12-17 . www.us-rs.si.
3. https://www.us-rs.si/media/constitution.pdf
4. Web site: Vsi sodniki » us-rs.si. www.us-rs.si. 2018-12-19.