established in the Constitution42 and took away the competence of the National Congress to examine matters relating to the Judiciary.43 3. The appointment of the members of the Constitutional Tribunal in 2003 50. Article 275 of the 1998 Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador44 established that the Constitutional Tribunal, with national jurisdiction, would have its seat in Quito; it would be composed of nine members, with their respective alternates; they would serve four-year terms and could be re-elected. The National Congress elected the titular judges and their alternates in January and March 2003 to be members of the Constitutional Tribunal and to have the competences defined in article 276 of the Constitution.45 Magistrates and judges shall be independent in the exercise of their jurisdictional powers, even in relation to the other organs of the Judiciary; they shall only be subject to the Constitution and the law. Cf. Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador of August 11, 1998 (file of annexes to the answering brief, tome I, folio 3694). 42 Article 119. The institutions of the State, their agencies and departments, and public officials shall only have the powers that are set out in the Constitution and by law, and shall have the obligation to coordinate their actions towards the achievement of the common good. Those institutions determined by the Constitution and the law shall enjoy autonomy in their organization and functioning. Cf. Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador of August 11, 1998 (file of annexes to the answering brief, tome I, folio 3679). 43 Article 130. The National Congress shall have the following duties and powers: 1. To swear in the President and the Vice President of the Republic whose election has been proclaimed by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. To accept their resignation, to remove them following their impeachment; to establish their physical or mental incapacity or abandonment of their functions, and to declare them dismissed. […] 4. To amend the Constitution and to interpret it in a way that is usually binding. 5. To enact, to amend, and to repeal laws and to interpret them in a way that is usually binding. […] 8. To monitor the actions of the Executive Power and those of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and to request public officials to provide any information that it deems necessary. 9. To institute impeachment proceedings, at the request of a quarter of the members of the National Congress, against the President and the Vice President of the Republic, the Ministers of State, the Comptroller General and the Attorney General, the Ombudsman, the Prosecutor General; the superintendents, the members of the Constitutional Tribunal and of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, during the exercise of their functions and up to one year after their terms have concluded. Cf. Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador of August 11, 1998 (file of annexes to the answering brief, tome I, folio 3681). 44 Cf. Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador of August 11, 1998 (file of annexes to the answering brief, tome I, folio 3707): Art. 275. The Constitutional Tribunal, with national jurisdiction, shall have its seat in Quito. It shall be composed of nine members, who shall have their respective substitutes. They shall perform their functions for four years and may be re-elected. The organic law shall determine the rules for their organization and functioning, and the procedures for their actions. The members of the Constitutional Tribunal shall meet the same requirements as those required of justices of the Supreme Court of Justice, and shall be subject to the same prohibitions. They shall not incur liability for the opinions they issue and for the opinions they formulate in the exercise of their functions. They shall be appointed by the National Congress, by a simple majority, as follows: two, from slates provided by the President of the Republic two, from slates provided by the Supreme Court of Justice, excluding its members two, elected by the National Congress, excluding legislators one, from the slate provided by mayors and provincial prefects one, from the slate provide by legally recognized national labor confederations and indigenous and peasant organizations one, from the slate provided by the legally recognized manufacturing chambers. The law shall regulate the procedure for drawing up the slates referred to in the last three elements. The Constitutional Tribunal shall elect a president and a vice president from among its members, and they will perform their functions for two years and may be re-elected. 45 Cf. Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador of August 11, 1998 (file of annexes to the answering brief, tome I, folios 3707, 3709): Art. 276. The Constitutional Tribunal shall have competence: 1. To hear and decide appeals filed on the unconstitutionality, in substance or in form, of organic and ordinary laws, decree-laws, ordinances, statutes, regulations, and resolutions issued by organs of the institutions of the State, and to suspend all or some of their effects. 17