The Court proceeded to the in-camera part of the plenary session
on the constitutionality of the activity of “Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court”
On September 24, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine at its plenary session in the form of written proceedings considered the case upon the constitutional petition of 45 People’s Deputies of Ukraine on compliance of the provisions of Article 37.2.1, Article 45, paragraph 12 of Section XII of “Final and Transitional Provisions” of the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” dated June 2, 2016 No.1402-VІІІ (hereinafter referred to as the Law) and specific provisions of the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine, the Code of Commercial Procedure of Ukraine, the Code of Civil Procedure of Ukraine, the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine with the Constitution of Ukraine.
The plenary session was chaired by the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Oleksandr Tupytskyi, who is the judge-rapporteur in this case.
During the public part of the plenary session, the information of the judge-rapporteur on the content of the constitutional petition and the grounds for initiating the constitutional proceedings in the case was heard.
According to him, the authors of the constitutional petition argue that the disputed provisions of the Law do not meet the requirements of Articles 6, 8, 19.2, 125.3, 128.1, 128.2 and 129 of the Constitution of Ukraine, and the provisions of procedural codes – to Article 8 of the Basic Law of Ukraine.
Substantiating the unconstitutionality of the disputed provisions, the People's Deputies of Ukraine note that the constitutionally determined status of the Supreme Court presupposes that it has appropriate functions and powers. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, when adopting the laws of Ukraine to implement the relevant provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine, must adhere to constitutionally defined limits, in particular those relating to the status, organisation, functioning, activities of both relevant bodies and their officials. When adopting the Law, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine did not take into account that Article 125.3 of the Constitution of Ukraine does not contain in the definition of the name and status of the Supreme Court a structural unit with a separate name “Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court”, which is enshrined in Article 37 of the Law.
During the plenary session, Oleksandr Tupytskyi informed that in order to ensure full and objective consideration of the case, the Court sent a number of inquiries to representatives of state and scientific establishments, as well as individual scholars to clarify their views on issues raised in the constitutional petition.
After examining the case files in the public part of the plenary session, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine moved to the in-camera part for a decision.
The public part of the plenary session is available at the official website of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine at the link: http://ccu.gov.ua/kategoriya/2020.
