Supreme Court of Chile
| Supreme Court of Chile | |
|---|---|
| Corte Suprema de Justicia de Chile | |
 The Justice Courts Palace (Palacio de los Tribunales de Justicia) in Santiago, seat of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals of Santiago | |
 Interactive map of Supreme Court of Chile | |
| 33°26′21″S 70°39′11″W / 33.4391964°S 70.6531933°W | |
| Established | December 29, 1823 |
| Location | Santiago |
| Coordinates | 33°26′21″S 70°39′11″W / 33.4391964°S 70.6531933°W |
| Composition method | Ministers are nominated by the Court itself, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate |
| Authorised by | Constitution of Chile |
| Judge term length | 75 years old or until ceasing in good conduct |
| Number of positions | 21 |
| Website | pjud |
| President of the Supreme Court | |
| Currently | Gloria Ana Chevesich |
| Since | 6 January 2026 |
The Supreme Court of Chile (Spanish: Corte Suprema de Justicia de Chile) is the highest court in Chile and the head of the Chilean judiciary. Seated in the Justice Courts Palace in the capital, Santiago, it exercises "directive, correctional, and economic" oversight over nearly all of the country's courts, with the exception of the Constitutional Court, the Election Certification Tribunal, and the regional electoral tribunals.
Installed on 29 December 1823 under Chile's 1823 constitution, it is among the oldest institutions of its kind in the world and the oldest still-functioning supreme court in Latin America.[1] In the Chilean system, the court lacks the broader power of judicial review—it cannot set binding precedent or invalidate laws—and instead resolves matters case by case. Most cases are heard in salas (specialized chambers) of at least five judges; a smaller number of matters go before the full court sitting en pleno.
History
[edit]The idea of a supreme tribunal for Chile predates the Court's actual founding. The 1811 "Provisional Regulation for the Administration of Justice" first proposed a "Supreme Judicial Tribunal," and the constitutions of 1818 and 1822 each envisioned a similar body, though none was implemented.[2]
The 1823 Constitution created the "Supreme Court of Justice," describing it as the "first judicial magistracy of the State" and charging it with protecting individual and judicial guarantees. It was installed on 29 December 1823 with four ministers, a president, and a national prosecutor; its first members were José Gregorio Argomedo (president), Francisco Antonio Pérez, Gaspar Marín, and Lorenzo José Villalón, with Mariano Egaña as prosecutor.[1] The 1828 Constitution renamed the body the "Supreme Court" (Corte Suprema), the name it retains today. The 1833 Constitution did not directly regulate the Court, leaving its structure to ordinary legislation. In 1835 the Court was given second-instance jurisdiction over criminal and treasury matters, dividing appellate business with the Court of Appeals of Santiago, and the 1875 Law on the Organization and Powers of the Courts recast the Supreme Court as a court of cassation empowered to review the rulings of the courts of appeal.[1]
The number of ministers has grown over time: from five in 1823 to seven in 1889, nine in 1902, thirteen in 1918, sixteen in 1984, seventeen in 1988, and the current twenty-one since a 1997 reform, which also allowed—for the first time—the appointment of ministers from outside the judiciary.[3]
Composition and appointment
[edit]The Supreme Court has twenty-one members, called ministers (ministros), one of whom serves a two-year term as President of the Supreme Court; the rest are ranked by seniority. The Court also has a judicial prosecutor, a secretary, a deputy secretary, and eight relatores (case reporters).[3] Under the 1997 reform, five of the twenty-one seats are reserved for lawyers from outside the judiciary; when such a seat falls vacant, the Court draws its shortlist from practicing lawyers with at least fifteen years' standing and a record of distinguished public or academic service, rather than from sitting judges.
Justices are appointed by the President of the Republic from a list of five candidates (a quina) drawn up by the sitting members of the Court itself; at least two candidates on the list must be senior judges from the courts of appeal, while the remaining three may come from outside the judiciary. The President's nominee must then be confirmed by a two-thirds majority of sitting senators in a specially convened session—a system sometimes described as a form of judicial co-optation. Supreme Court justices must be at least 36 years old, and once confirmed they serve until the compulsory retirement age of 75 or "during good behavior," except that a justice may be removed for "notorious abandonment of duty" (notable abandono de deberes) by a majority vote of both houses of Congress following an impeachment-style acusación constitucional.
As of 2023, women held seven of the twenty-one seats (35 percent) on the Court, a proportion markedly lower than at the trial-court level, where women make up roughly 60 percent of judges.
Jurisdiction and internal organization
[edit]The Supreme Court ordinarily sits divided into three specialized chambers (salas) and, when it determines the workload requires it, into four; the President of the Court may, at his or her discretion, sit on any chamber. The Court itself, by standing resolution (auto acordado), fixes each chamber's subject-matter jurisdiction and the distribution of ministers among them for periods of at least two years.[4]
Sitting in plenary session (with at least eleven members present), the Court hears appeals arising from the removal of legislators' immunity, administers the judiciary's disciplinary and administrative affairs, issues the standing resolutions that other courts must follow, and rules on parole petitions in cases of qualified life imprisonment sentences, among other matters reserved to it by law. The specialized chambers, meanwhile, hear cassation appeals in substance and in form, appeals from habeas corpus and constitutional-protection (recurso de protección) rulings issued by the courts of appeal, petitions for review, and disciplinary complaints against lower-court judges, among other matters. Under the Court's 2017 standing resolution, the First Chamber handles civil, commercial, labor, and pension matters; the Second Chamber handles criminal and tax matters; the Third Chamber handles constitutional and administrative-litigation matters; and, when the Court sits in extraordinary four-chamber configuration, a Fourth Chamber takes on labor, pension, family, and mining matters. Any dispute between chambers over which one has jurisdiction over a given case is resolved, without further appeal, by the President of the Court.
Current membership
[edit]As of September 2026[update], the Supreme Court's twenty-one authorized seats included the following sitting justices, with three seats vacant. Vacancies have arisen chiefly from the retirement of María Teresa Letelier Ramírez in December 2025 and the parliamentary removal of Ministers Ángela Vivanco and Sergio Muñoz Gajardo in October 2024 and of Minister Diego Simpértigue Limare in December 2025 (see § Controversies below).[5][6][7][8]
| Justice | Appointed by | Took office | Mandatory retirement | Alma mater |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gloria Ana Chevesich (President) | Sebastián Piñera | 2 August 2013 | 4 November 2033 | University of Chile |
| Ricardo Blanco Herrera | Sebastián Piñera | 6 June 2013 | 13 May 2029 | University of Chile |
| Andrea Muñoz Sánchez | Sebastián Piñera | 13 March 2014 | 14 July 2032 | University of Chile |
| Manuel Valderrama Rebolledo | Michelle Bachelet | 26 August 2015 | 25 February 2031 | University of Chile |
| Arturo Prado Puga | Michelle Bachelet | 17 July 2017 | 13 October 2030 | University of Chile |
| Mauricio Silva Cancino | Sebastián Piñera | 31 January 2019 | 30 January 2028 | University of Chile |
| María Angélica Repetto García | Sebastián Piñera | 8 August 2019 | 22 November 2028 | Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso |
| Leopoldo Llanos Sagristá | Sebastián Piñera | 16 December 2019 | 30 January 2028 | University of Concepción |
| Adelita Ravanales Arriagada | Sebastián Piñera | 14 October 2020 | 14 October 2039 | Pontifical Catholic University of Chile |
| Jean Pierre Matus Acuña | Sebastián Piñera | 19 October 2021 | 7 July 2042 | Pontifical Catholic University of Chile |
| María Cristina Gajardo Harboe | Sebastián Piñera | 21 January 2022 | 15 April 2038 | University of Chile |
| María Soledad Melo Labra | Gabriel Boric | 3 November 2022 | 11 October 2037 | University of Concepción |
| Jessica González Troncoso | Gabriel Boric | 7 October 2024 | 3 February 2039 | University of Concepción |
| Mireya López Miranda | Gabriel Boric | 7 October 2024 | 9 March 2037 | University of Valparaíso |
| Omar Astudillo Contreras | Gabriel Boric | 10 October 2025 | 22 July 2037 | Pontifical Catholic University of Chile |
| Gonzalo Ruz Lártiga | Gabriel Boric | 10 October 2025 | 16 July 2044 | Central University of Chile |
| Jorge Zepeda Arancibia[9] | Gabriel Boric | 25 February 2026 | 7 August 2028 | University of Chile |
| Dinko Franulic Cetinic[10] | José Antonio Kast | 29 May 2026 | — | University of Concepción |
| Three seats vacant | ||||
The judicial prosecutor of the Supreme Court is Jorge Pizarro Astudillo, who assumed the role on 7 October 2024;[11] the Court's secretary is Jorge Sáez Martín and its deputy secretary is Marcelo Doering Carrasco.
In January 2026, the Court's plenum unanimously elected Chevesich, then the Court's senior civil-chamber minister, to a two-year term as president for 2026–2027; she took office on 6 January 2026, becoming the first woman to head the Court in its 200-plus-year history.[12][13]
Seat
[edit]The Supreme Court sits in the Justice Courts Palace on Compañía street in central Santiago, between Morandé and Bandera streets, opposite Plaza Montt Varas; the building also houses the Court of Appeals of Santiago and the military appeals court of the Army, Air Force, and Carabineros. Built in two stages between 1905 and 1930, the Palace was declared a national historical monument by Chile's Ministry of Education in 1976.
Notable decisions
[edit]Human rights and the Pinochet dictatorship
[edit]The Supreme Court has issued a number of consequential rulings concerning the former dictator Augusto Pinochet and other agents of his government.
- In July 2002, the Court dismissed a case against Pinochet on the grounds that dementia left him unfit to stand trial.
- In August 2004, it confirmed a lower court's decision stripping Pinochet of the parliamentary immunity he had acquired as a former senator.
- In March 2005, it reversed a lower court's decision that had lifted Pinochet's immunity in the case of the assassination of Carlos Prats.
- In August 2007, it upheld the life sentence of Hugo Salas Wenzel, the first senior official sentenced to life imprisonment for human-rights violations committed under Pinochet.[14]
- In December 2025, the Court reviewed and increased the sentences it had previously handed down against agents convicted of crimes against humanity, ending its longstanding practice of applying "half prescription" (media prescripción) to reduce sentences in such cases. The ruling implemented a March 2024 judgment of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Vega González et al. v. Chile, which had found that Chile's use of the mitigating doctrine to shorten sentences for extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances was incompatible with its international human-rights obligations, and had ordered Chile to review or annul the reduced sentences imposed in fourteen such proceedings.[15]
Gay rights
[edit]- In 2004, the Court confirmed a lower court's decision stripping former judge Karen Atala of custody of her three daughters because she is a lesbian; the Inter-American Court of Human Rights overturned the ruling in 2012.
- In January 2004, the Court removed judge Daniel Calvo from the Santiago Court of Appeals after media reports that he had visited a sauna frequented by gay men (see the Spiniak case).
Women's health
[edit]- In November 2005, the Court ruled that the sale of the morning-after pill Postinor-2 was constitutional.
Extradition of Alberto Fujimori
[edit]On 21 September 2007, the Court granted Peru's request to extradite former president Alberto Fujimori on human-rights and corruption charges.
Disputes with other institutions
[edit]The Court has, on several occasions, provoked controversy by asserting jurisdiction beyond what critics considered its proper role:
- In November 2015, the Court issued a ruling granting a constitutional-protection appeal on behalf of the Venezuelan opposition figure Leopoldo López and purporting to direct the actions of international bodies; the ruling drew criticism from Chilean legal scholars and a formal rebuke from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which stressed that it was an autonomous international body not subject to the jurisdiction of national courts.
- In March 2018, the Senate of Chile resolved a jurisdictional dispute between the Supreme Court and the Comptroller General over the pension arrangements of civil-aviation employees in the Comptroller's favor, rejecting the Court's claim to competence in the matter.
- In October 2019, a ruling by the Court's Third Chamber asserted the power to review decisions of the Constitutional Court through the constitutional-protection appeal, prompting a public dispute between the country's two highest courts and government proposals for a constitutional reform to delineate their respective jurisdictions.
Controversies
[edit]2024 impeachment of Ángela Vivanco and Sergio Muñoz
[edit]In 2024, the "Hermosilla case"—a corruption and influence-trafficking scandal involving lawyer Luis Hermosilla, considered one of the largest such scandals in Chile since the return of democracy in 1990—implicated Supreme Court minister Ángela Vivanco, who was accused of improperly discussing pending cases with Hermosilla. The Court's plenum removed Vivanco from the bench in October 2024 under its own disciplinary powers, and the Chilean Congress separately pursued a constitutional accusation (acusación constitucional, a form of impeachment) against her for "notorious abandonment of duty" and influence trafficking. In the same proceeding, Congress accused Minister Sergio Muñoz—unrelated to the Hermosilla case—of improperly disclosing privileged information to benefit his daughter, also a judge, and of concealing that she had been working remotely from Italy during a period in which such arrangements were not permitted.
On 16 October 2024, the Senate approved the constitutional accusations against both ministers, removing Muñoz and Vivanco from the judiciary and barring each from holding public office for five years—the first removal of a sitting Supreme Court justice by congressional impeachment in 31 years.[6][7][16] In December 2025, Minister Diego Simpértigue was likewise removed from the Court by a unanimous Senate vote on a separate constitutional accusation.[8] The episode, coming amid broader public scrutiny of judicial ethics, was cited by commentators as part of the "institutional crisis" that Chevesich pledged to address on assuming the Court's presidency in January 2026.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 Bravo Lira, Bernardino (2003). "La Corte Suprema de Chile 1823–2003, cuatro caras en 180 años". Revista Chilena de Derecho (in Spanish). 30.
- ↑ Valenzuela Somarriva, Eugenio (1991). "Informe final sobre reformas al sistema judicial chileno" (PDF). Estudios Públicos (in Spanish) (41). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2009.
- 1 2 Article 93 of the Code of Judicial Organization (Archived 19 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine).
- ↑ Article 96 of the Code of Judicial Organization.
- ↑ "Ministra María Teresa Letelier puso fin a su carrera judicial" (in Spanish). Poder Judicial de Chile. 24 December 2025. Retrieved 8 January 2026.
- 1 2 "Exministra Ángela Vivanco es inhabilitada para ejercer cargos públicos" (in Spanish). Senado de Chile. 16 October 2024. Retrieved 8 January 2026.
- 1 2 "Senado aprueba acusación constitucional contra juez Sergio Muñoz" (in Spanish). Senado de Chile. 16 October 2024. Retrieved 8 January 2026.
- 1 2 Campos, Sofía (22 December 2025). "Queda destituido: de forma unánime el Senado aprueba acusación constitucional contra Simpértigue" (in Spanish). Emol.com. Retrieved 8 January 2026.
- ↑ "Ministro Jorge Zepeda Arancibia jura como nuevo ministro de la Corte Suprema" (in Spanish). Poder Judicial de Chile. 25 February 2026. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
- ↑ "Presidenta de Corte Suprema toma juramento a ministro Dinko Franulic Cetinic" (in Spanish). Poder Judicial de Chile. 29 May 2026. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
- ↑ "Corte Suprema queda integrada de manera paritaria luego de juramento de ministras Jessica González y Mireya López" (in Spanish). Poder Judicial de Chile. 7 October 2024. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
- ↑ "Gloria Ana Chevesich hace historia al ser elegida la primera mujer presidenta de la Corte Suprema" (in Spanish). Pauta.cl. 15 December 2025. Retrieved 11 September 2026.
- ↑ "Gloria Ana Chevesich asumió como presidenta de la Corte Suprema" (in Spanish). T13. 6 January 2026. Retrieved 11 September 2026.
- ↑ Schweimler, Daniel (29 August 2007). "Chile ex-general jailed for life". Retrieved 2026-01-26.
- ↑ Fernández, Karinna (27 February 2026). "Chile: Landmark supreme court decision ends the reduced sentences for crimes against humanity". International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). Retrieved 11 September 2026.
- ↑ "Congreso de Chile destituye a juez supremo en juicio político por corrupción" (in Spanish). Agence France-Presse. 16 October 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2026 – via La Nación.
External links
[edit]- (in Spanish) Chilean Judiciary website
- Supreme Court of Chile in Tamil
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