Ineffectiveness of the protection of the Latin American constitutional judge, in case of prosecution and dismissal by Legislative Bodies

Abstract

The cases of prosecution and dismissal of members of the Constitutional Court or the Supreme Court of Justice, by the Congress or Legislative Assembly, are, in the Latin American context, a matter of con- cern for the validity of the independence guarantee of the comptroller of the Constitution, and the human rights of the constitutional judge. The facts are similar: pressures of public and private order, summary dismis- sal of constitutional judges by the congress (with broad representation of the ruling party), protected by constitutional powers, and denial of justice by the internal constitutional control bodies. The Commission and the In- ter-American Court of Human Rights (among other arguments) have stated that this type of acts violates the fundamental guarantee of independence and autonomy of the Constitutional Court (American Convention on Hu- man Rights, Article 25) and due process of judges (American Convention on Human Rights Article 8.1).