Italian Constitutional Court

The Constitutional Court of Italy was created by the republican constitution of 1948 but did not become operative until 1955, holding its first proceedings in 1956. It is the highest authority in Italy on questions of constitutional law, reviewing whether national and regional legislation complies with the constitution, resolving disputes over the allocation of power between different levels of government, and trying charges brought against the President of the Republic. Fifteen judges sit for single nine-year terms, drawn in equal thirds from three sources: five appointed by the President of the Republic, five elected by Parliament, and five appointed jointly by Italy's highest ordinary and administrative courts, the Court of Cassation, the Council of State and the Court of Audit. Judges must have at least twenty years' standing as a practicing lawyer, a law professorship, or senior judicial experience, and the court has stood since the postwar period as one of the central guarantors of Italy's republican constitutional order.