The Constitutional Court has been working on the conflicting amnesty law since yesterday and has set a work schedule to address what will be one of the most complex and significant issues it has ever faced.
The magistrates, who admitted on Wednesday to having dealt with the question of unconstitutionality promoted by the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, debated the order in which they will proceed with the examination of the amnesty, which has already given rise to 19 challenges.
Three of them are questions of unconstitutionality, emanating from the Supreme Court and the High Court of Justice of Catalonia.
Another example is the appeal for unconstitutionality presented by the PP deputies in Congress, led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
Eleven are appeals for unconstitutionality from autonomous governments controlled by the PP (Madrid, Andalusia, Valencian Community, Galicia, Aragon, Murcia, Castile and Leon, Balearic Islands, Extremadura, Cantabria and La Rioja). Added to this are three resources from the autonomous Parliaments of Aragon, Cantabria and Murcia, also with a “popular” majority.
The last one, for now, is the appeal presented by the government of Castilla-La Mancha chaired by Emiliano García Page, the only socialist who brought the amnesty law to the TC, maintaining its unconstitutionality.
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The court will first resolve the question of the unconstitutionality of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court. The approximate processing time will be six months and the TC hopes to render a decision, “at the earliest”, before the summer, but the sources consulted admit that this is an optimistic forecast.
This is of course the case if we take into account the average time taken to resolve issues of unconstitutionality.
Since Cándido Conde-Pumpido became president in January 2023, the TC has resolved by ruling 13 questions of unconstitutionality and The average response time was 20 and a half months..
If it resolved the question posed by the Supreme Court By next August, the court would significantly reduce its own deadlines..
Protections, in the end
“Let no one think that we are going to decide quickly,” they say before the Constitutional Court, whose members are aware of the difficulties of the case and the cost that it could have for the institution and for themselves.
And they also send a message to the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, whose hope of escaping the criminal proceedings still open against him before the Supreme Court and returning safely to Spain lies in the approval by the TC of the amnesty law. “Puigdemont must not believe that he will have here a quick formula to solve his problems, because his resources are going to be limited. to the queue“, say constitutional sources.
In TC’s work schedule, protection resources that the people concerned will probably ask for the non-application of the amnesty (not only Puigdemont, but also other people responsible for the “trial”, such as Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Turull and various convicts) are in last place.
After the resolution of the Supreme Court’s question of unconstitutionality, the TC will examine the appeal of the PP deputies. This will be the most complete response regarding the amnesty, since the Criminal Chamber of the TS only raises two specific aspects: the violation of the right to equality and the principle of legal certainty.
The PP’s appeal “raises many other issues, it is very well elaborated,” they admit to the TC. In fact, some magistrates have spoken out in favor of starting the analysis of the amnesty law with this resource instead of the question of the unconstitutionality of the Supreme Court, with a more limited content. However, the question of the Criminal Chamber is prior to the PP’s appeal and the chronological order – an objective parameter – weighs heavily in the court.
The appeal by the PP deputies was to be admitted for processing at the next plenary session of the court, but it is possible that it will be delayed until October because the applicants must correct certain procedural defects.
The sources consulted estimate that the PP’s appeal for unconstitutionality will require “a year or a year and a half” to be resolved once admitted to treatment. This places the possible failure in late 2025 or early next year.
The four magistrates of the TC elected by the Senate – including the current president, Condé-Pumpido – They will end their term in March 2026..
Then comes the turn of the appeals of unconstitutionality of the regional governments and parliaments. The court will have to analyze, first of all, legitimation of these institutions to challenge state criminal law, which is not clear despite the flexible jurisprudence of the TC on the legitimation of autonomous communities.
Finally, calls for the protection of those affected by the amnesty will be addressed. “We cannot decide whether or not the law should be applied to the crime of embezzlement without first determining whether the rule is constitutional or not,” the TC explains.
The work schedule can be changed by various factors. For example, the challenges of magistrates. Or the impact that the Court of Justice of the European Union could have, which some jurisdictional bodies have already considered.
