Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic


The Constitutional Court, created by the Dominican Constitution of 2010, is a constitutional court the mission of which is to guarantee the supremacy of the Constitution, defend the constitutional order and protect fundamental rights.
In order to comply with its powers, expressly conferred by the Constitution and the Organic Law of the Constitutional Court and Constitutional Procedures, No. 137-11, the Constitutional Court issues decisions which are final and irrevocable, and which, at the same time, constitute binding precedents for the public authorities and all the organs of the State. The Constitutional Court is autonomous and independent from the other branches of government and is vested with administrative and budgetary autonomy.
The TC has its headquarters in the municipality of Santo Domingo Oeste, province of Santo Domingo, in front of the Plaza de la Bandera, but may meet in any other place in the Dominican Republic.

Powers

The Constitutional Court is competent to hear in sole instance:
  • Of direct actions of unconstitutionality against laws, decrees, regulations, resolutions and ordinances, at the request of the President of the Republic, of one third of the members of the Senate or of the Chamber of Deputies and of any person with a legitimate and legally protected interest.
  • Preventive control of international treaties prior to their ratification by the legislative body.
  • To hear conflicts of competence between the branches of government, at the request of one of their holders
  • To hear appeals for review filed against jurisdictional decisions that have acquired the authority of irrevocable res judicata after January 26, 2010, and in the cases provided for by Law 137–11;
  • To hear appeals for review filed in relation to judgments issued in matters of amparo.

Composition

The court is composed of thirteen magistrates, appointed by the National Council of the Magistracy for a single nine-year term and gradually renewed every three years.
Since 2021, the current composition is:
  • Milton L. Ray Guevara
  • Rafael Díaz Filpo
  • Lino Vásquez Sámuel
  • Víctor Joaquín Castellanos Pizano
  • José Alejandro Ayuso
  • Alba Luisa Beard Marcos
  • Manuel Ulises Bonnelly Vega
  • Justo Pedro Castellanos Khoury
  • Domingo Antonio Gil
  • María del Carmen Santana de Cabrera
  • Miguel Aníbal Valera Montero
  • José Alejandro Vargas Guerrero
  • Eunisis Vásquez Acosta