Blockade of Spanish constitutional court and end of serious crisis Netanyahu pushes highly controversial law change before it is sworn in

The months-long blockade of the renewal of the Spanish Constitutional Court and the serious institutional crisis that accompanied it came to a surprising end on Tuesday. The Council of Justice, a kind of government of the judiciary, unanimously elected two new constitutional judges. The Conservative members had previously prevented this with their blocking minority, hence the Conservative majority of constitutional court judges continued.

With the election of the two candidates for the Council for the Judiciary, two more judges who were nominated by the government some time ago can now take up their positions. The former majority of six conservative judges in the Constitutional Court versus five progressives now changes to a majority of seven progressive judges versus four conservatives. From the point of view of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s left-wing government, the danger has been averted that a majority of conservative constitutional judges from the conservative previous government could topple some of the government’s prestige projects in the coming election year.

The blockade had led to a serious crisis just before Christmas, as the court, with the votes of Conservative judges whose terms had already expired, halted a legislative process that was supposed to change the way judges were elected in such a way that the Conservatives could no longer block it. Such a change in the law is no longer necessary. However, it could have persuaded conservative judges to reconsider.

The blockade in the Judicial Council (CGPJ) was overcome by the Conservative members putting forward two candidates, which the more pro-government members could also agree to. The conservative César Tolosa and the progressive María Luisa Segoviano were elected. Until recently, she was president of a chamber of the Supreme Court. The progressive members of the panel withdrew the candidate they actually preferred. The CGPJ not only appoints judges from the Constitutional Court, but also from other courts of higher instances. (sda/dpa)