Created by the 2008 Constitution to replace the former Constitutional Tribunal. It hears abstract challenges to statutes, extraordinary protection actions against final judicial decisions, and prior review of treaties, and it has produced the world's most developed body of case law on the rights of nature.
How the court is constituted
- Tier
- constitutional
- Court type
- Constitutional court
- Jurisdiction
- National
- Seat
- Quito
- Established
- 2008
- Composition
- Nine judges serving nine-year terms, renewed by thirds every three years.
- Appointment
- Selected by a qualifying commission drawn from the executive, legislative and citizen-participation branches, after public competition.
- Languages
- Spanish, Quechua
Where an appeal goes next
Final domestically; then the Inter-American system.
Decisions worth knowing
- Los Cedros (Sentencia 1149-19-JP)2021
Applied the rights of nature to halt mining concessions in a protected forest.
- Sentencia 34-19-IN2019
Recognised equal marriage by giving effect to an Inter-American Court advisory opinion.
Found something out of date on Constitutional Court of Ecuador?
Corrections are reviewed against the primary source before anything changes.