The race to define the new magistrate of the Constitutional Court had an unexpected turn. The former general of the Nation , Viviane Morales , decided to retire from the contest to integrate the list that the Supreme Court of Justice will send to Congress .
His resignation coincided with the day the Plenary Chamber of the High Court is planned to choose the final list of applicants who will compete for replacing Judge José Fernando Reyes , whose period culminates in September 2025 .
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Morales’s decision occurred after the preliminary vote of the Supreme Court to choose the 15 candidates that would continue in the competition. At that stage, the ex-fiscal was relegated with just four votes , well below the results obtained by the former public defender , Carlos Camargo , who added 15 votes ; The magistrate of the Superior Court of Buga , María Patricia Balanta , with 13 , and the magistrate of the Court of Bogotá , Pedro Oriol Avella , who held third place.
The registration of applicants was carried out between June 9 and 20 , and the publication of the list of admitted represented the first formal step of the high court in this selection.
Morales is a lawyer graduated from the University of Rosario and served as attorney general of the Nation between 2011 and 2012 . His management culminated abruptly after the State Council annulled his election due to vices in the designation process. Since then, Morales has maintained an active presence in the public debate, especially in issues related to the Constitutional Court .
His position has been critical against some decisions of that court, particularly those related to the decriminalization of abortion . Repeatedly, Morales has stated that the Court acted with “ ignorance and pride ” by adopting certain failures, thus showing a clearly conservative profile in legal and social debates.
In the race for the Constitutional Court , several candidates with a prominent career continue, including Juan Jacobo Calderón Villegas , Jaime Humberto Tobar , Floralba Padrón , Juan Pablo Suárez , Andrés Mutis , Isduar Tobo , Gloria Patricia Lopera , Juan Carlos Arias , Neyla Fernanda Martínez , Gonzalo Andrés Ramírez , and Jeofrey Alonso Troncoso .
From the Supreme Court, they detailed that the election of the 15 candidates was made after a rigorous analysis of the resumes of 38 people who advanced to this stage of the process. As a result, the new list of applicants that will be heard in a public audience on Thursday, August 14 was defined.
The High Court also stressed that “this selection process, such as all those carried out by the Corporation, has been developed with total transparency, based on the analysis of professional profiles and compliance with the requirements established by current regulations.”
The Plenary Chamber plans to choose the three applicants who will make up the list sent to the Senate that same day. This agency will be in charge of appointing the new magistrate, who will have a crucial role in the interpretation of the Constitution , since the Court is the top interpreter of the Political Charter and has played a central role in the protection of fundamental rights, in the control of legislative reforms, and in defining the limits of state power.
Their decisions have directly influenced the lives of millions of Colombians, addressing such diverse issues as social rights , individual freedoms , transitional justice , and public policies . Therefore, The choice of a new member of this high court not only implies a change in its composition but also a possible impact on the orientation of future sentences and the balance of public power in Colombia.