The Council of State of Colombia ( es, Consejo de Estado de Colombia) is the supreme tribunal with jurisdiction over administrative issues in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

.Litigation 2016: Colombia
, Latin Lawyer

History

Created in 1817 by

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and B ...

, the Council of State of Colombia is the oldest judicial organ still in operation in Latin America. It was abolished in 1843 but reconstituted in 1886.

Composition

The State Council comprises twenty-seven

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

s who serve a term of eight years. It appoints its own judges from lists submitted by the Superior Council of the Judiciary. There are five sections dealing with different specialized topics.''Organigrama''
, Council of State website

Functions

Anyone may request the Council of State to rule on whether a given administrative action complies with the law and the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

. The Council may suspend any actions judged not to so comply. It also provides non-binding advice to Government, which is required to consult it on proposed measures within a defined scope. The Council may: introduce

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pla ...

s relating to its functions; cancel the investiture of members of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

in accordance with law; and make a ruling on the transit of foreign troops through the national territory."''Consejo de Estado''"
''El Tiempo'' (Colombia)

Recent interventions

Domain names

On December 11, 2001, the Council of State, through its Consultation and Civil Services Office, issued the first legal opinion concerning the

domain name A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...

.co, establishing the status of that domain name as denoting the nation of Colombia.

US access to military bases

The Council of State was consulted in 2009 on a proposed agreement to permit increased use of Colombian bases by US military personnel. Despite criticism by the Council describing some aspects of the pact as "very broad and imbalanced", in October President Alvaro Uribe went ahead and signed the agreement.

Abortion guidelines

After

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

was partially legalized in Colombia in 2006, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection issued guidelines regulating abortion services. However, in 2009 the Council of State, ruling that the Ministry was not entitled to regulate abortion, suspended these guidelines, and in 2013 annulled them, leaving Colombia without official recommendations on abortion methods.

Unseating of Chief Prosecutor

In March 2012 the Council of State overruled the appointment as Chief Prosecutor of Viviane Morales Hoyes, on the grounds that the process of electing her in the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

had been invalid.

Sale of Government stake in Isagen SA

In May 2015 the Council of State for a second time suspended the sale of the Government stake in the electricity company Isagen SA, in order to consider appeals against the sale."Colombia's Council of State Suspends Isagen Stake Sale."
SeeNews Latin America. Aii Data Processing Ltd. May 15, 2015. Retrieved June 03, 2016 from HighBeam Research.

References

* https://web.archive.org/web/20100710025005/http://www.ramajudicial.gov.co/csj_portal/jsp/frames/index.jsp?idsitio=21

External links

Official website
{{Authority control