Judges and Panels

The Constitutional Court is comprised of seven Judges, who are confirmed into office by the majority vote of the Saeima – with at least 51 votes. Three Judges of the Constitutional Court are confirmed upon the proposal by at least ten members of the Saeima, two – upon the proposal by the Cabinet of Ministers, and two – upon the proposal of the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court. The Plenary Session of the Supreme Court selects candidates for the office of a Constitutional Court Judge from among the judges of the Republic of Latvia.

The law provides that a Latvian citizen, who has higher legal education, holds a master or doctoral degree and has at least ten years long experience working as a legal professional or in research and teaching in legal specialism in an institution of research or higher education and who on the day, when a proposal regarding confirming into the office of a Constitutional Court Judge is submitted to the Presidium of the Saeima, has reached 40 years of age, can be confirmed into the office of a Constitutional Court Judge. A person, who pursuant with Section 55 of the law On Judicial Power cannot be a candidate for the office of a judge cannot be confirmed into the office of a Constitutional Court Judge.

The term of office of a Constitutional Court Judge is ten years. During his or her term in office, except for the cases envisaged in Section 10 of the Constitutional Court Law (for example, inability to continue serving due to status of health, a Judge has been sentenced for committing a crime or systematically has failed to perform duties of office), a Judge of the Constitutional Court is irremovable. Irrespectively of the period served in the office of a Constitutional Court Judge, a Judge of the Constitutional Court leaves office upon reaching 70 years of age. A Judge of the Constitutional Court is prohibited from simultaneously taking any other office or any other paid employment, except for pedagogical, research or creative work.

Law provides that the President and the Vice-President of the Constitutional Court are elected by the Judges of the Constitutional Court from among themselves by closed vote, by an absolute majority of the whole composition of the Court for the term of three years. The President of the Constitutional Court heads the sittings of the Constitutional Court, organizes the work of the Court and represents the Constitutional Court. The President and the Vice-President of the Constitutional Court have the right to give instructions to the Judges of the Constitutional Court only in connection with organisational issues linked to performing duties of office.

There are seven Judges in the Constitutional Court.

Pursuant to the Constitutional Court Law, all applications are reviewed and the decision regarding initiation of a case or refusal to do so is taken by a court Panel composed of three justices unless the Panel decides to refuse to initiate a case and a judge – a member of the Panel – votes against such decision by the Panel and provides reasoned objections. In such a case, examination of the application and the taking of a decision shall be transferred to the assignments sitting with the full composition of the Court.

A Panel shall be established for one year by the Constitutional Court with an absolute majority vote by full membership of the Court.

A Panel whose structure includes the President of the Constitutional Court or Vice-President shall be chaired accordingly by the President of the Constitutional Court or Vice-President.

A Panel whose structure does not include the President of the Constitutional Court or Vice-President shall be chaired by the Chair of the Panel whom the Panel shall elect from among its members.

Panel meetings shall be closed. Only relevant members of the Panel shall participate thereof. If necessary, members of the Panel may invite the applicant, employees of the Constitutional Court as well as other persons to participate in a meeting.

From 2 September 2022 the composition of the Panels of the Constitutional Court is as follows:

1st Panel	2nd Panel
Aldis Laviņš – Chairperson of the Panel Jānis Neimanis, Jautrīte Briede	Irēna Kucina – Chairperson of the Panel Gunārs Kusiņš, Artūrs Kučs
3rd Panel	4th Panel
Gunārs Kusiņš – Chairperson of the Panel Anita Rodiņa, Jautrīte Briede	Jānis Neimanis – Chairperson of the Panel Artūrs Kučs, Anita Rodiņa