The Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic and the Constitutional Court Act

Chapters of the article

• What the Constitutional Court does
• Judges of the Constitutional Court
• Decisions of the Constitutional Court
• Constitutional complaint
• Summary

What the Constitutional Court does

Although it may sound like it, the Constitutional Court does not stand at the top of the imaginary ladder of courts, it stands aside and has a special role. Its main task is to protect constitutionality. This means that it oversees compliance with the Constitution and fundamental human rights and freedoms. Above all, it checks that laws and court decisions are in accordance with the Constitution. The organisation, functioning and powers of the Constitutional Court are regulated by the Constitutional Court Act. Let’s take a look at its contents.

Judges of the Constitutional Court

The Constitutional Court is composed of 15 judges. They are appointed by the President of the Czech Republic for ten years. A judge of the Constitutional Court must be over 40 years of age, have a university degree in law and ten years of legal experience (but not necessarily court experience). A Constitutional Court judge may not be a member of a political party or movement and, with exceptions, may not hold any other paid position or gainful employment.

Judges of the Constitutional Court shall enjoy immunity. This means that they cannot be prosecuted without the consent of the Senate. They can only be detained if they were caught in the act of committing a crime or immediately afterwards. The President of the Senate is always informed of the detention, and if he or she does not approve the detention, the judge must be released.

A judge of the Constitutional Court also cannot be removed except if he or she has acted contrary to his or her office, has become a member of a political party or movement, or has not attended a Constitutional Court hearing for more than a year. His or her office is automatically terminated if he or she has been convicted of a deliberate criminal offence. The appeal is decided by the judges of the Constitutional Court themselves in plenary session. Interestingly, unlike other judges, the office of Constitutional Court judge has no upper age limit. For ordinary judges it is 70 years of age.

These measures exist in order to ensure the independence of the Constitutional Court from the other branches of the state (legislature, executive, judiciary). This is because the Constitutional Court plays a key role in protecting democratic principles and the rule of law and ensuring that all state bodies act in accordance with the Constitution and the law.

President of the Constitutional Court

The President of the Czech Republic appoints one President and two Vice-Presidents from among the judges. The President of the Constitutional Court represents the Constitutional Court externally, appoints the Presidents of the Chambers of the Constitutional Court, is in charge of administration, convenes the plenary session and directs its proceedings. The Vice-Presidents represent the President of the Constitutional Court in his absence and permanently perform the tasks assigned by him. These roles are therefore crucial and have a major influence. Indeed, there is a long-standing debate as to whether the process of the Constitutional Court should be regulated in more detail.

Assistants to judges

Each judge of the Constitutional Court is assigned at least one assistant (in practice, each judge has several assistants, often including law professors). These assistants are appointed by the President of the Constitutional Court on the proposal of the judge requesting the assistant. The assistant must have a university degree in law. The assistant’s work consists of preparing the basis for decisions and may also be responsible for certain procedural tasks. In practice, they then prepare draft decisions and discuss them.

Plenary and Senate

Sessions of the Constitutional Court are held in chambers or plenary. Alternatively, in some cases they may also rule individually.

The plenary is composed of all judges and has a quorum if at least ten judges are present (with exceptions). A decision of the plenary is adopted if a majority of the judges present agree (in some cases, at least nine judges must agree, such as on the repeal of laws).

The Senate decides in less serious cases. They consist of three judges and are four in total, as the President and Vice-Presidents are not regular members of the Senate. Each chamber is headed by a president, who is appointed for one year at a time by the President of the Constitutional Court. He is responsible for convening and chairing the meetings of his Chamber. The Senate may act only if all three members are present and may adopt resolutions only with the consent of all the members of the Senate. Pavel Rychetský introduced a model of gradual rotation of chambers, so that judges do not serve their entire term in the same composition, but are gradually replaced.

Constitutional Court decisions

The Constitutional Court decides:

• annul laws or individual provisions of laws if they are contrary to the constitutional order,
• annul other legislation or individual provisions thereof if they are contrary to the constitutional order or the law,
• constitutional complaints by local government bodies against unlawful state intervention,
• a constitutional complaint against a final decision and other interference by public authorities with constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights and freedoms,
• an appeal against a decision on the verification of the election of a deputy or senator,
• in doubts about the loss of eligibility and incompatibility to hold the office of deputy or senator,
• the constitutional action brought by the Senate against the President of the Republic,
• the President of the Republic’s motion to annul the resolutions of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate,
• on measures necessary to implement a decision of an international court which is binding on the Czech Republic, unless it cannot be implemented otherwise,
• whether a decision to dissolve a political party or any other decision concerning the activities of a political party is in conformity with the Constitution or other laws,
• disputes concerning the scope of competences of state bodies and bodies of territorial self-government, if they do not fall under the law to another body,
• the conformity of an international treaty with the constitutional order, before its ratification. The treaty cannot be ratified pending the decision of the Constitutional Court.

All decisions of the Constitutional Court are final and cannot be appealed. The decisions of the Constitutional Court take two forms: a ruling and a resolution. The Constitutional Court decides by a ruling in the case of a decision on the merits. These rulings then function as quasi-judgments. This means that if the same case is decided in the future, this ruling is usually used as a model. Each award contains four parts: a heading, a operative part, a reasoning part and a statement of reasons. The findings are publicly announced on behalf of the Czech Republic. The most important judgments are also published in the Collection of Laws. In all other cases, the Constitutional Court decides by decree.

Constitutional complaint

Any individual (as well as legal entities) can appeal to the Constitutional Court by means of a constitutional complaint. You can file a constitutional complaint if you believe that a final decision in a proceeding to which you were a party, a measure or other intervention by a public authority has violated your fundamental right or freedom guaranteed by the constitutional order.

A constitutional complaint may be lodged within two months of the date of delivery of the decision on the last procedural remedy. A constitutional complaint may also be lodged against a previous decision on a procedural remedy which has been challenged by way of an extraordinary appeal. That is to say, in a situation where the extraordinary appeal has been rejected as inadmissible.

A procedural remedy for the protection of a right means a decision on an ordinary or extraordinary appeal, other than a request for a retrial, or another procedural remedy for the protection of a right, the exercise of which is connected with the initiation of judicial, administrative or other legal proceedings.

If you do not have the possibility to use a procedural remedy (e.g., an appeal), you may file a constitutional complaint within two months from the date you became aware of the interference of a public authority with your constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights or freedoms. At the latest within one year from the date on which such interference took place.

The constitutional complaint must be accompanied by a copy of the decision on the last procedural remedy or a copy of the decision rejecting the extraordinary remedy.

With few exceptions, you can only lodge a constitutional complaint if you have exhausted all other procedural remedies – that is, you must first exhaust all possible remedies.

Summary

The Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic plays a key role in the protection of constitutionality and fundamental rights. It is composed of 15 judges appointed by the President for ten years. Its main function is to rule on the conformity of laws and decisions with the Constitution. The judges are protected by immunity and cannot be members of political parties. The Constitutional Court rules in the form of judgments and decisions, which are final and irrevocable. Citizens can apply to the Constitutional Court by means of a constitutional complaint in the event of a violation of their constitutional rights. Its activities are regulated by the Constitutional Court Act.