Section III: The Judicial Power

Chapter I

Its Nature and Duration

Article 108. The Judicial Power of the Nation shall be vested in a Supreme Court of Justice, and in such lower courts as the Congress may establish in the territory of the Nation.

Article 109. In no case may the President of the Nation exercise judicial functions, assume jurisdiction over pending cases, or reopen those decided.

Article 110. The judges, both of the Supreme Court and of the inferior courts of the Nation, shall hold their offices during their good behavior, and shall receive for their services a compensation that the law shall determine and that shall not be diminished in any way while they remain in office.

Article 111. No one shall be able to be a member of the Supreme Court of Justice without being a lawyer of the Nation, with eight years of practice, and possessing the qualifications required to be a Senator.

Article 112. Upon the first installation of the Supreme Court, the persons appointed shall take an oath before the President of the Nation, to discharge their duties in administering justice well and faithfully, and in conformity with what the Constitution prescribes. In the future, they shall take the oath before the President of the Court itself.

Article 113. The Supreme Court shall adopt its own internal regulations and shall appoint its employees.

Article 114. The Judicial Council, regulated by a special law passed by an absolute majority of the totality of the members of each Chamber, shall be charged with selecting judges and with the administration of the Judiciary.

The Council shall be reconstituted periodically so that an equilibrium is achieved among the representation of popularly elected political organs, judges of all instances, and federally licensed attorneys. It shall also include persons from the academic and scientific fields, of a number and manner of appointment the law shall indicate.

Its powers shall be:

1. To select candidates for inferior courts through public competitions.

2. To issue binding lists of three candidates for appointment of judges of the lower courts.

3. To administer revenues and to execute the budget that the law assigns for the administration of justice.

4. To exercise disciplinary powers over judges.

5. To determine the commencement of removal proceedings against judges, and in such case, to order their suspension and formulate the corresponding charges.

6. To establish the regulations regarding judicial organization and all regulations necessary to assure the independence of judges and the effective rendering of judicial services.

Article 115. Judges of the lower courts of the Nation shall be removed on those grounds expressed in Article 53, by a trial jury composed of legislators, judges, and federally licensed attorneys.

Its decision, which shall be unappealable, shall have no effect other than to remove the accused party from office. But the convicted party shall nevertheless remain subject to accusation, trial and punishment before the ordinary courts in conformity with the laws.

It shall be necessary to terminate the proceedings and, in such case, to reinstate the suspended judge, if one hundred eighty days elapse without a judgment having been rendered, counted from the decision to open the removal proceedings.

The composition of and the procedures of this jury shall be determined by the special law to which Article 114 refers.

Chapter II

The Powers of the Judiciary

Article 116. The Supreme Court of Justice and the lower courts of the Nation have jurisdiction over and decide all cases that deal with matters governed by the Constitution and the laws of the Nation, except as provided in clause 12 of article 75, and over treaties with foreign nations, in cases concerning ambassadors, public ministers and foreign consuls, in cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, in suits in which the Nation is a party, in cases arising between two or more Provinces, between one province and the citizens of another, between citizens of different Provinces, and between a Province or its citizens against a foreign State or citizen.

Article 117. In these cases the Supreme Court shall exercise appellate jurisdiction, according to the rules and exceptions that Congress may prescribe; but in all matters concerning ambassadors, foreign ministers and consuls, and those in which a Province shall be a party, the Court shall exercise original and exclusive jurisdiction.

Article 118. All ordinary criminal trials not resulting from the power of impeachment granted to the Chamber of Deputies shall be concluded by juries, once this institution is established in the Republic. The proceedings in these trials shall take place in the same Province where the crime was committed; but when the crime is committed outside the borders of the Nation, in violation of international norms, Congress shall determine by a special law the place where the trial is to be held.

Article 119. Treason against the Nation shall consist only in bearing arms against it, or in joining its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. Congress shall establish by a special law the punishment for this crime; but the punishment shall not go beyond the person of the offender nor shall the infamy of the criminal be transmitted to his relatives of any degree.

Article 120. The Office of the Public Prosecutor is an independent body with functional autonomy and financial self-sufficiency, whose function is to promote the intervention of the judicial [system] in defense of lawfulness and of the general interests of society, in coordination with the other authorities of the Republic.

It is composed of a Chief Prosecutor of the Nation and a Chief Public Defender of the Nation and the other members that the law may establish.

Its members enjoy functional immunities and noninterference with their remuneration.

Note:  Except where otherwise noted, this translation follows the text published in the Boletín Offical of August 23, 1994, including use of italics to indicate sections that were reformed by the Constitutional Convention of 1994 and the use of bold for emphasis.