Political Constitution of Colombia (1991)

The government and administration of the Judicial Branch will be the responsiblity of the Judicial Government Council and the Administration of the Judicial Branch. These organs will carry out the functions that are attributed by law with the objective to promote the access to justice, the efficiency of the Judicial Branch, the effective judicial protection, and judicial independence.

The Judicial Government Council is the organ in charge of defining the policies of the Judicial Branch according to the law and to postulate the lists and shortlists of candidates that the Constitution orders. Also, it corresponds to the Judicial Government Council to regulate all the judicial and administrative proceedings in the judicial offices, for the aspects not anticipated by the legislator; issue the regulations of the system of judicial career and the Commission of Judicial Career, which will serve to oversee and control the career; approve the budget of the Judicial Branch to be sent to the Government; approve the judicial map; define the organic structure of the Administration of the Judicial Branch; supervise this entity, and provide reports about its performance to the Congress of the Republic.

The Judicial Government Council will be composed of nine members: the presidents of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Justice, and the Council of State; the manager of the Judicial Branch, which must be a professional with twenty years of experience, of which ten years must be in the administration companies and public institutions, and must be nominated by the Judicial Government Council for a period of four years; a representative of the magistrates of the tribunals and of the judges, elected by them for a period of four years; a representative of the employees of the Judicial Branch elected by them for a period of four years; three permanent members in exclusive dedication, named by the rest of the members of the Judicial Government Council, for a period of four years. None of the members of the Judicial Government Council can be reelected.

The permanent members in exclusive dedication mentioned in the previous paragraph will be in charge of strategic planning of the Judicial Branch and of proposing the Judicial Government Council, for its approval, the public policies of the Judicial Branch. They should have ten years of experience in the design, evaluation, and monitoring of public policies, administration models or public administration. In its election they must assure the diversity of academic and professional profiles.

Statutory law can determine the specific subjects for which the ministers of cabinet, the directors of administrative departments, the Attorney General of the Nation, as well as representatives of academics and practicing lawyers will participate in the meetings of the Judicial Government Council.