Guatemala’s newly selected Constitutional Court is expected to face a difficult test of legitimacy as it tries to win back trust from a public disillusioned with a justice system that, according to experts, has appeared to favor a narrow set of interests. The court’s ability to rebuild confidence will be judged not only by its composition but also by how it handles the most sensitive cases that have drawn criticism in prior years.
The court will be seated in April after the outgoing bench’s five-year term ends and four of the court’s 10 magistrates—along with alternates—return. Guatemala’s Constitutional Court is the country’s highest court, and its decisions cannot be appealed. Alternates are brought in when a magistrate has a conflict or when constitutional questions require a panel of seven magistrates, according to the framework described by AP.
In remarks aimed at defining what the court should look like to the public, Carlos Luna Villacorta, a former alternate magistrate, said the court must “recover the concept of a legal and technical court and not issue decisions tailored for anyone.” He added that it “must inspire more confidence above all with its most controversial decisions.”
The new court was completed Wednesday when President Bernardo Arévalo announced two of the incoming magistrates: Gladys Annabella Morfín, and her alternate, María Magdalena Jocholá. Jocholá is described as a Kaqchikel Maya lawyer and academic specializing in Indigenous issues.
Guatemala’s Constitutional Court has been at the center of the country’s fight against corruption, and experts say its credibility has been shaped by sharply different phases in its rulings. In 2019, when former President Jimmy Morales terminated the mandate of an anti-corruption commission known as the CICIG, the constitutional court ruled his decision unconstitutional, in a move that observers described as a democratic safeguard. AP also notes that the court later faced criticism after new magistrates were elected in 2021.
One example cited by AP came in April 2024, when the court upheld the release from prison of former President Otto Pérez Molina, who had been convicted in two separate cases of corruption. In general, critics have said the outgoing court’s decisions in controversial cases protected people with alleged ties to drug trafficking, human rights abuses, or corruption.
Experts consulted by AP said the new court appears more balanced, but its credibility will hinge on whether its rulings confirm that shift. Political analyst Renzo Rosal said the new court appears to be “relatively balanced,” while also arguing that it “leans conservative,” adding that “nothing else can be expected of the (Constitutional Court)” because the court’s job is to apply the Constitution.
Rosal said what Guatemala needs is a set of magistrates who can stabilize the court and help halt mistrust of justice. He framed the goal as ensuring the institution serves the people rather than “spurious spaces like now,” as he put it, and suggested that the court’s controversial decisions will be the proving ground as the new bench begins work.