The People's Party (PP) will facilitate Conde-Pumpido's replacement at the Constitutional Court: How does this affect the amnesty?

MadridFour of the twelve judges of the Constitutional Court will expire this December, placing the PSOE and PP in a new negotiation to renew the supreme interpreter of the Constitution. A three-fifths majority in the Senate is required, and therefore, the two major parties must reach an agreement. By the end of 2025, the current president, Cándido Conde-Pumpido, and judges Ricardo Enríquez and María Luisa Balaguer, appointed by the upper house in 2017, will have completed nine years as members of this body. As for José María Macías, he was appointed in July 2024 to cover 2022 for health reasons—and will be eligible for reappointment because he will not have completed a third of his term. How will the changes affect the resolution of appeals regarding the amnesty?

Conde-Pumpido has been portrayed by the Spanish right as an extension of the Moncloa (Spanish Constitutional Court) to the Constitutional Court and a sort of shadowy defender of the amnesty, even before the law had been passed in Congress. In fact, in recent months, the PP and Vox have undermined the institution's legitimacy by arguing that Conde-Pumpido lacks impartiality, thus anchoring a narrative to question the court's endorsement of the Judicial Oblivion Law of the Process. In this context, the party led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, which might be tempted to block and wait if the next elections give it a three-fifths majority in the Senate, is leaning toward facilitating the renewal that the upper house must carry out next quarter, because it will allow the departure of the former Attorney General of the State. "What the PP will not do is allow Conde-Pumpido to continue. If the Spanish government wants to protect him, they can't count on us," stressed the Conservative spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, at a press conference from the headquarters of Génova on Monday.

In principle, then, the Senate will elect the four new judges at the end of 2025, with the unknown being whether the amnesty file will still be open. Before the summer, Conde-Pumpido wanted to respond to the first appeal of unconstitutionality, that of the PP, which already serves as the skeleton for all the rulings to come. However, the appeals for constitutional protection from the leaders of the Process convicted for the 1-O referendum are pending, such as Oriol Junqueras (ERC) and Jordi Turull (Junts), who lead their respective parties, but are disqualified from running in elections due to the Supreme Court's refusal to grant them the amnesty. The Constitutional Court's majorities should not be affected, and the expectation is that the departure of two progressive judges—Conde-Pumpido and Balaguer—and two conservative judges—Enríquez and Macías—will be replaced by new members chosen equally by the PSOE and PP.

It is expected that the Socialists will be responsible for placing judges on the court who will not derail the 6-4 majority that already endorsed the amnesty in June. There are still weeks left to address this renewal, and the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) does not want to get ahead of itself. Sources within the Constitutional Court itself admit that the situation is difficult to predict, including whether the appeals of the leaders of the 1-O referendum will have been resolved by the time this renewal takes place. In fact, the former president Carles Puigdemont introduced him in mid-July And it remains to be seen what priority he wants to give Conde-Pumpido. These cases are expected to be accelerated this fall, considering that those affected are currently suffering from a restriction of rights resulting from the non-application of the amnesty, such as the right to passive suffrage for those already convicted and freedom of movement in Spain in the case of the Junts leader, who has requested a precautionary measure that Larena maintains. TC sources assure that in September they will consider whether or not to accept Puigdemont's request, which could lead to a clash with the investigating judge of the Supreme Court.