Supreme Court building in Santiago

The Supreme Court of Chile is the highest court of appeal in Chile. It also administrates the lower courts in the nation. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 476 KB) Corte Suprema File links The following pages link to this file: Supreme Court of Chile ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 476 KB) Corte Suprema File links The following pages link to this file: Supreme Court of Chile ... Court of Appeals is the title of certain appellate courts in various jurisdictions. ...

In the Chilean system, the court lacks the broader power of judicial review -- it cannot set binding precedent or invalidate laws. Instead, it acts on a case-by-case basis. Judicial review is the power of a court to review a law or an official act of a government employee or agent; for example, although the basis is different in different countries, as unconstitutional or violating of basic principles of justice. ...

Trials are carried out in salas, chambers of at least five judges, presided over by the most senior member.

Membership

The members of the Supreme Court are appointed by the president, but must be chosen from a list of five choices which is prepared by the sitting members of the court. Two of these choices must be senior judges from appellate courts; the other three need not have any judicial experience. The president's choice must then be ratified by the senate. Supreme Court justices must be at least 36 years old. They serve for life and cannot be removed except for "inappropriate behavior." Flag of the President of Chile The President of Chile is both the chief of state and the head of government. ... Chile Congress building The Senate of the Republic of Chile is the upper house of Chiles bicameral Congress, as established in the current constitution. ...

The Supreme Court has twenty-one members, called ministros. One member is selected to serve a three-year term as President of the Supreme Court.

Current Supreme Court members:

• Marcos Libedinsky Tschorne (President)
• Hernán Álvarez García
• Ánjel Eleodoro Ortiz Sepúlveda
• José Benquis Camhi
• Enrique Edmundo Tapia Witting
• Ricardo Fernando Gálvez Blanco
• Alberto Aníbal Chaigneau del Campo
• Jorge Antonio Rodríguez Ariztía
• Enrique Cury Urzua
• José Luis Pérez Zañartu
• Orlando Antonio Álvarez Hernández
• Urbano Marín Vallejo
• Domingo Yurac Soto
• Jorge Humberto Medina Cuevas
• Domingo Luis Alfonso Kokisch Mourgues
• Milton Iván Juica Arancibia
• Nibaldo Segura Peña
• María Antonia Morales Villagrán
• Adalis Salvador Oyarzún Miranda
• Jaime del Carmen Rodríguez Espoz
• The twenty-first seat is vacant as of 2005.

2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Notable decisions

Augusto Pinochet

The Chilean Supreme Court has been involved in many important human rights cases regarding the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ... General Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte[1] (born November 25, 1915) was head of the military government that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990. ...

• In July 2002, it dismissed a case against Pinochet, saying that he was unfit to stand trial due to dementia.
• In August 2004, it confirmed a lower court's decision that Pinochet should lose his automatic immunity he acquired from being a former senator.
• In March 2005, it reversed a lower court's decision stripping Pinochet of immunity in the case of the assassination of Carlos Prats.

Dementia (from Latin demens) is progressive decline in cognitive function due to damage or disease in the brain beyond what might be expected from normal aging. ... Jack Ruby murdered Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, in a very public manner. ... General Prats, as vice-president General Carlos Prats González (1915 - Chilean political figure, and General Augusto Pinochets predecessor as Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army. ...

Gay rights

The Chilean Supreme Court has made controversial decisions in the area of gay rights. The gay rights movement is a collection of loosely aligned civil rights groups, human rights groups, support groups and political activists seeking acceptance, tolerance and equality for non-heterosexual, (homosexual, bisexual), and transgender people - despite the fact that it is typically referred to as the gay rights movement, members also...

• In 2004, it confirmed a lower court's decision that stripped former judge Karen Atala of custody of her three daughters because she is a lesbian. The case has been taken up by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
• In January 2004, it removed judge Daniel Calvo from his position on the Santiago Court of Appeals, after media reports that he visited a sauna frequented by gay men.

A lesbian is a homosexual woman. ... The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the IACHR or, in Spanish, CIDH) is one of the two bodies that comprise the inter-American system for the promotion and protection of human rights. ... Sauna on the lake Vättern, in Karlsborg Municipality. ...

External link

• Chilean Judiciary website (in Spanish)