Supreme Court of Uruguay

Supreme Court of Uruguay
Supreme Court of Uruguay
Corte Suprema de Justicia; de la República Oriental del Uruguay
	Palacio Piria, seat of the Supreme Court
Established	28 October 1917; 106 years ago
Location	Montevideo
Composition method	Appointed by the General Assembly by two thirds of the votes.
Authorized by	Uruguayan Constitution
Judge term length	10 years
Number of positions	5
Website	poderjudicial.gub.uy
President of the Supreme Court
Currently	Elena Martínez Rosso
Since	1 February 2024; 8 months ago

The Supreme Court of Uruguay (Spanish: Suprema Corte de Justicia de Uruguay) is the highest court of law and last resort in the Oriental Republic of Uruguay. It serves as the highest appeals court, and appoints and oversees all other judges. Established on 28 October 1907, it is housed in the Palacio Piria, a masterpiece of eclectic architecture from 1917.^[1]

Article 235 of the Constitution establishes that the members of the Supreme Court of Justice must be at least 40 years old, be natural-born citizens (or be legal citizens with ten years exercise thereof and twenty-five years of residence in the country), and have been a lawyer for ten years, or as such to have been a member of the Judiciary, the Public or Fiscal Ministry for a period of eight years.^[2] Article 236 establishes shall be appointed by the General Assembly by a two-thirds vote of its full membership.^[3] Also, the term-length will be ten years and they may not be re-elected until after a period of five years following the previous term. Additionally, the position shall cease when they reach the age of seventy years.^[3] The presidency of the Court rotates annually among the justices according to the order of seniority in office.^[4]

Powers and duties

According to Article 329 to the Supreme Court is assigned:^[3]

Judge all violators of the Constitution, without exception; offenses against the law of nations and cases in admiralty; questions relating to treaties, pacts and conventions with other States; and take cognizance of cases involving diplomatic Representatives in such cases as are contemplated in international law.
Exercise directive, corrective, advisory, and economic supervision over the Tribunals, Courts and other dependencies of the Judiciary.
Prepare the draft budgets of the Judicial Power and transmit them in due course to the Executive Power for inclusion in the draft of the general budget, together with such modifications as may be deemed appropriate.
With the approval of the Senate, or during its recess with that of the Permanent Commission, appoint the citizens who shall compose the Appellate Tribunals, such appointments to be contingent upon the following: a favorable vote of three of its members, for candidates who belong to the Judiciary or the Public Ministry; A favorable vote of four, for candidates not having the qualifications of the foregoing paragraph.
Appoint the Lawyer Judges of all grades and classes, an absolute majority of all members of the Supreme Court being required in each case.
Appoint the permanent Official Defenders and Justices of the Peace by absolute majority of all members of the Supreme Court of Justice.
Appoint, promote, or remove, by a vote of four of its members, the employees of the Judicial Power, in accordance with the provisions of Articles 58 to 66, wherever pertinent.
Perform such other duties as the law may prescribe.

Membership

Ministers of the Supreme Court^[5]
Justice / birthdate and place	Start date / length of service	Succeeded
Justice / birthdate and place	Start date / length of service	Succeeded	(President) Elena Martínez Rosso	September 2, 2015 9 years, 35 days	Ruibal
Doris Morales Martínez	February 8, 2022 2 years, 242 days	Tosi Boeri
Bernadette Minvielle Sánchez	August 9, 2017 7 years, 59 days	Pérez Manrique
Tabaré Sosa Aguirre	September 11, 2017 6 years, 333 days	Chediak
John Pérez Brignani	December 15, 2020 3 years, 297 days	Turell Araquistain

Former members

Ministers of the Supreme Court
Name	Period	Name	Period	Name	Period
Carlos Fein	1907–1908	Edenes A. Mallo	1965–1974	Felipe Hounie	2015–2018
Domingo González	1907–1908	Velarde Cerdeiras	1967–1972	Elena Martínez Rosso	2015–
Luis Piera	1907–1910	Álvaro Méndez Modernell	1972–1974	Bernadette Minvielle Sánchez	2015–
Ezequiel Garzón	1907–1925	Rómulo Vago	1972–1978	Eduardo Turell Araquistain	2017–2020
Benito Cuñarro	1907–1928	Carlos Dubra	1972–1981	Luis Tosi	2018–2022
Luis Romeu Burgues	1908–1925	Sabino Dante Sabini	1973–1979	Tabaré Sosa Aguirre	2019–
Julio Bastos	1908–1929	Agustín de Vega	1974–1976	John Pérez Brignani	2020–
Pablo de María	1911–1914	Francisco José Márcora	1974–1978	Doris Morales Martínez	2022–
Abel Pinto	1914–1934	José Pedro Gatto de Souza	1976–1984
Ramón Montero Paullier	1925–1928	Enrique Frigerio	1978–1983
Miguel V. Martínez	1925–1933	Ramiro López Rivas	1978–1984
Teófilo Piñeiro	1928–1931	José Pedro Igoa	1979–1981
Juan A. Méndez del Marco	1928–1939	Erik Colombo	1981–1982
Julio Guani	1929–1944	Sara Fons de Genta	1981–1985
Pedro Aladio	1931–1934	Juan José Silva Delgado	1983–1985
Juan Aguirre y González	1934–1940	Rafael Addiego Bruno	1984–1993
Mariano Pereira Núñez	1935–1938	Jacinta Balbela	1985–1989
Blas Vidal	1935–1938	Nelson Nicoliello	1985–1989
Román Álvarez Cortés	1938–1941	Armando Tommasino	1985–1992
Zoilo Saldías	1938–1942	Nelson García Otero	1985–1992
Jaime Cibils Larravide	1940–1942	Jorge Pessano	1989–1990
Juan José Aguiar	1940–1948	Jorge Marabotto	1990–2000
Amaro Carve Urioste	1941–1945	Luis Torello	1991–1998
José B. Nattino	1942–1947	Raúl Alonso de Marco	1992–2002
Juan M. Minelli	1942–1949	Juan Mariño Chiarlone	1993–2001
Eduardo Artecona	1944–1953	Milton Cairoli	1993–2003
Enrique Armand Ugón	1945–1952	Gervasio Guillot [es]	1998–2003
Francisco Gamarra	1947–1953	Roberto Parga	2000–2007
Bolívar Baliñas	1949–1950	Leslie van Rompaey	2002–2012
Álvaro Macedo	1949–1959	Daniel Gutiérrez	2002–2012
Rivera Astigarraga	1951–1961	Pablo Troise	2003–2006
Manuel López Esponda	1952–1962	Hipólito Rodríguez Caorsi	2003–2009
Luis Alberto Bouza	1954–1964	Sara Bossio	2006–2008
Julio César De Gregorio	1954–1964	Julio César Chalar	2012–2014
Esteban Ruiz	1962–1967	Jorge Ruibal	2007–2015
Hamlet Reyes	1962–1972	Jorge Larrieux	2008–2016
Emilio Siemens Amaro	1962–1972	Jorge Chediak	2009–2019
Alberto Sánchez Rogé	1965–1973	Ricardo Pérez Manrique	2012–2017