Constitutional Court of Russia

Constitutional Court of Russia
Constitutional Court of Russia
Конституционный суд Российской Федерации
Established	12 July 1991
Location	Saint Petersburg
Composition method	Constitutional court
Authorized by	Constitution of Russia
Number of positions	11
Website	ksrf.ru
President
Currently	Valery Zorkin
Since	2003

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation (Russian: Конституционный суд Российской Федерации) is a high court within the judiciary of Russia which is empowered to rule on whether certain laws or presidential decrees are in fact contrary to the Constitution of Russia. Its objective is only to protect the Constitution (in Russian constitutional law this function is known as "constitutional control" or "constitutional supervision") and deal with a few kinds of disputes where it has original jurisdiction, whereas the highest court of appeal is the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

History[edit]

Before the 1980s in the USSR the importance of judicial supervision over compatibility of legislation and executive actions with the provisions and principles of the constitution was not recognized. It was not until December 25, 1989 when Constitutional Control in the USSR Act was passed, that such "judicial review" was initiated. Accordingly, the Constitutional Supervision Committee was created. It started functioning mid-1990 and was dissolved towards the end of 1991. In December 1990 the Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR) was amended with provisions which provided for creation of Constitutional Court (whereas a similar USSR body was called a Committee, not a Court). On July 12, 1991 Constitutional Court of the RSFSR Act was adopted. In October the Fifth Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian SFSR has elected 13 members of the Court and the Constitutional Court de facto started functioning. From November 1991 till October 1993 it rendered some decisions of great significance. For example, it declared unconstitutional certain decrees of Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, which were adopted ultra vires, and forbade the practice of extrajudicial eviction. More often, however, it declared President Yeltsin's decrees unconstitutional, leading critics to argue it took the side of the Supreme Soviet in the power struggle.

On October 7, 1993 Boris Yeltsin's decree suspended work of the Constitutional Court. According to the decree, the Constitutional Court was "in deep crisis". On December 24 another presidential decree repealed the Constitutional Court of the RSFSR Act itself. In July 1994 the new Constitutional Court Act was adopted. However, the new Constitutional Court started working only in February 1995, because the Federation Council of Russia refused several times to appoint judges nominated by Yeltsin.

In 2005 the federal authorities proposed to transfer the court from Moscow to Saint Petersburg. The transfer, involving controversial allocation of land on Krestovsky Island for cottages of the judges and relocation of the Russian State Historical Archive from the former Senate and Synod Building, now occupied by the court headquarters, had been completed by 2008.

President Dmitry Medvedev on May 8, 2009, proposed to the legislature and on June 2 signed a law for an amendment whereby the president of the court and his deputies would be proposed to the parliament by the president rather than elected by the judges, as was the case before.^[1]^[2]

Constitutional Court Judge Vladimir Yaroslavtsev in an interview to the Spanish newspaper El País published on August 31, 2009, claimed that the presidential executive office and security services had undermined judicial independence in Russia.^[3] In October the Constitutional Court in an unprecedented motion accused Yaroslavtsev of "undermining the authority of the judiciary" in violation of the judicial code and forced him to resign from the Council of Judges. Judge Anatoly Kononov, who had frequently dissented from decisions taken by the majority of the court, in his interview to Sobesednik supported Yaroslavtsev, claiming that there was no independent judiciary in Russia and criticized the new amendments concerning appointment of the court president as undemocratic.^[4] The Constitutional Court forced Kononov to step down from the Constitutional Court on January 1, 2010, 7 years ahead of schedule.^[5]^[6]^[7]

Composition[edit]

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation consists of 11 judges (with the quorum of 8), one being the President (currently Valery Zorkin) and another one being Deputy President (currently Sergey Mavrin). The President presides over the court's sessions, represents the court in its relations with state bodies, has considerable powers in the matters of appointment, and makes the initial recommendation for disciplinary measures, in particular dismissal.^[8]

The judges are nominated by the President and appointed by the Federation Council for 12 years.^[9] In order to become a judge of the Constitutional Court a person must be a citizen of Russia, at least 40 years of age, have legal education, have served as a lawyer for at least 15 years and have "recognized high qualification" (quotation from Constitutional Court Act) in law.

Constitutionality of laws, disputes concerning competence of governmental agencies, impeachment of the president of Russia and the Constitutional Court's proposals of legislations must be dealt with in plenary session. The Constitutional Court also may by its discretion submit to plenary sessions any other issue.

Powers[edit]

Certain powers of the Constitutional Court are enumerated in the Constitution of Russia. The Constitutional Court declares laws, presidential and governmental decrees and laws of federal subjects unconstitutional if it finds that they are contrary to the Constitution (i.e. they violate certain rights and freedoms of citizens enumerated in and protected by the Constitution). In such instances, that particular law becomes unenforceable, and governmental agencies are barred from implementing it. Also, before an international treaty is ratified by the State Duma, the constitutionality of the treaty may be observed by the Constitutional Court.^{[clarification needed]} The Constitutional Court is not entitled to judge constitutionality of laws on its own initiative; the law may be submitted to the Constitutional Court by the President of Russia, the government of Russia, the State Duma, the Federation Council of Russia, one-fifth of members of the State Duma or the Federation Council, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the Supreme Court of Arbitration of Russia, or a legislative body of a Federal subject. Any federal court may request the Constitutional Court to judge on the constitutionality of a law if the law is to be implemented in a case, and a judge of the federal court is in doubt about whether the law is contrary to the Constitution. Also, any private citizen may submit in the Constitutional Court a claim challenging constitutionality of a particular law if that law was implemented in a particular case and thus violated rights of that citizen.

Another power of the Constitutional Court is to resolve disputes concerning competence of governmental agencies. Whenever the President of Russia is impeached, the Constitutional Court renders a resolution concerning complying with the due order of indictment.

Procedure[edit]

The Constitutional Court deals with cases either in chambers or in plenary sessions. All judges must be present unless they are sick or may have interest in the case; they must not abstain from voting on the resolution. Apart from judges, claimant, his representatives and governmental agencies involved are present. In order for resolution or decision to pass two-thirds of judges must be in favor of it.

Court presidents[edit]

Valery Zorkin (1991–1993)
Nikolay Vitruk (acting, 1993–1995)
Vladimir Tumanov (1995–1997)
Marat Baglai (1997–2003)
Valery Zorkin (since 2003)

Current judges[edit]

	Nominated by	Age at start / present		Start date / length of service	Education and previous positions
(President) Valery Zorkin February 18, 1943 Konstantinovka, Primorsky Krai	Congress of People's Deputies of Russia	48	81	October 29, 1991 32 years, 223 days	Moscow State University (1964), Institute of State and Law (1978, LL.D.); Senior Lecturer (1964—1967), Associate Professor (1967—1979) at MSU, Department of Theory of State and Law; Full Professor at the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Department of Constitutional Law (1979—1986); Head of the Panel of Experts by the Constitutional Commission of the Congress of People's Deputies (1990—1991); 1st President of the Constitutional Court (1991—1993)
(Deputy President) Sergey Mavrin September 15, 1951 Bryansk, Bryansk Oblast	Vladimir Putin	54	72	February 25, 2005 19 years, 104 days	Saint Petersburg State University Faculty of Law (1977), LL.D. (1991); Associate Professor at SPBU, Department of Labour Law (1980—1991), Head of the Department of Labour Law of the SPBU (1992—2005), Expert of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations of the International Labour Organization (1996—2006)
Lyudmila Zharkova September 3, 1955 Petrozavodsk, Karelia	Boris Yeltsin	41	68	June 11, 1997 26 years, 363 days	Saint Petersburg State University Faculty of Law (1979), RANEPA (1997); Secretary of the Petrozavodsk City Court (1972—1974); Notary of the First Petrozavodsk State Notary Office (1979—1981); Judge of the Oktyabrsky District Court of Petrozavodsk (1981—1990); Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Karelia (1992—1994); Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Karelia (1994—1997)
Sergey Kazantsev September 16, 1955 Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg)	Vladimir Putin	46	68	March 29, 2002 22 years, 71 days	Saint Petersburg State University Faculty of Law (1977), LL.D. (2003); Associate Professor at SPBU, Department of Theory and History of State and Law (1986—1987, 1989—1993, 1995—2002); Deputy Dean of the SPBU Faculty of Law (1987—1989); Chair of the Housing Committee of the Saint Petersburg City Administration (1993—1995)
Larisa Krasavchikova March 21, 1955 Sverdlovsk, Sverdlovsk Oblast (now Yekaterinburg)	Vladimir Putin	47	69	February 12, 2003 21 years, 117 days	Ural State Law University (1976), LL.D. (1994); Senior Lecturer (1980—1985), Associate Professor (1993—1995), Full Professor (1995—2003) at USLU, Department of Civil Law
Nikolay Melnikov May 27, 1955 Irkutsk, Irkutsk Oblast	Vladimir Putin	49	69	February 25, 2005 19 years, 104 days	Rostov State University (1977), LL.D. (2001); Investigator of the Novosilsky District Prosecutor's Office in Oryol Oblast (1978—1979); Senior Prosecutor of the Rostov Oblast Prosecutor's Office (1985—1989); Prosecutor of Krasny Sulin (1989—1992); Prosecutor of Leninsky District of Rostov-on-Don (1992—1997); Deputy Prosecutor of Rostov Oblast (1997—2003); Prosecutor of the Republic of Sakha (2003—2005)
Sergey Knyazev February 15, 1959 Pavlovsky Posad, Moscow Oblast	Dmitry Medvedev	49	65	October 15, 2008 15 years, 237 days	Far Eastern State University (1981), LL.D. (1999); Senior Lecturer (1985—1990), Associate Professor (1990—1996) at FESU, Department of State and International Law; Full Professor and Head of the FESU Department of State and Administrative Law (1995—2008); Dean of the FESU Faculty of Law (1990—1995); Chair of the Election Commission of Primorsky Krai (1995—2008)
Alexander Kokotov January 15, 1961 Ufimka, Sverdlovsk Oblast	Dmitry Medvedev	49	63	March 3, 2010 14 years, 97 days	Ural State Law University (1985), LL.D. (1995); Associate Professor (1988—1995), Full Professor (1995—2010) at USLU, Department of Constitutional Law; Head of the USLU Department of Constitutional Law (1998—2010)
Andrey Bushev February 12, 1966 Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg)	Vladimir Putin	56	58	June 8, 2022 2 years, 0 days	Saint Petersburg State University Faculty of Law (1988), Ph.D (1997); Associate Professor at SPBU, Department of Commercial Law (since 2000); Arbitrator of the International Commercial Arbitration Court and the Maritime Arbitration Commission at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation (2000—2022); Head of the Regional Department of International Finance Corporation (2003—2005); ad hoc Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (2009—2021); Acting Head of the SPBU Department of Civil Law (2019—2022);
Vladimir Sivitsky October 2, 1974 Moscow	Vladimir Putin	48	49	June 21, 2023 353 days	Moscow State University (1996), Ph.D (1999); Head of the Apparatus of the Committee on Local Government of the Federation Council (2002—2005); Deputy Head of the Relations with Legislative and Executive authorities Directorate of the Government of Moscow (2005—2006); Acting Dean of the Higher School of Economics Faculty of Law (2006—2008); Head of the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law of the HSE Campus in Saint Petersburg (2008—2023); Head of the Administrative Office of the Constitutional Court of Russia (2015—2023)
Mikhail Lobov February 1, 1971 Chelyabinsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast	Vladimir Putin	52	53	September 25, 2023 257 days	Moscow State Institute of International Relations (1992), University of Strasbourg (D.E.A., 1995), Columbia Law School (LL.M., 2004); Assistant Professor of Constitutional Law at University of Strasbourg (1995—1997); Legal Officer at the Department for the Execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (1997—2003); Head of Unit of the Department for the Execution of the judgments of the ECHR (2004—2006); Lawyer and Head of Legal Division at the Registry of the ECHR (2007—2014); Head of the Human Rights Policy and Co-operation Department of the Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law by the Council of Europe (2014—2021), Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (2022)