Christian Lawyers file complaint against Conde-Pumpido before Spain's CGPJ

Abogados Cristianos takes Conde-Pumpido before the CGPJ

The offensive against the president of Spain's Constitutional Court, Conde-Pumpido, is no longer a corridor rumour but a battery of formal complaints. Abogados Cristianos (Christian Lawyers), a Spanish legal association, has filed a complaint before the Disciplinary Commission of the Consejo General del Poder Judicial (the governing body of Spanish judges) and is asking for his removal from the court of guarantees. The association is not acting alone: Hazte Oír has filed a incivil complaint against him for alleged misconduct in the exercise of his duties. According to the complainants, the trigger is his management of the Constitutional Court and, in particular, his intention to block the appeal of those convicted in the ERE case before European institutions.

Who is Conde-Pumpido and why is he in the spotlight

Conde-Pumpido presides over the Constitutional Court at a moment of maximum institutional tension. Complaints are piling up through both disciplinary and incivil channels, but the underlying debate is another one: to what extent a Constitutional Court president can condition litigants' access to European justice. The proposal to bar judges from going to Europe to review Constitutional Court rulings has been interpreted by his critics as a shield for political power. His defenders, on the other hand, argue that it is a matter of legal certainty and respect for res judicata.

The complaint before the CGPJ is no minor formality. The Disciplinary Commission may reject it, shelve it or open proceedings, but the mere fact that the disciplinary route against a Constitutional Court president moves forward places the institution in an uncomfortable position. Abogados Cristianos has already shown that its legal actions do not always fall on deaf ears: the Supreme Court sided with them in the Bechí cross case, which was moved back to its original location.

The connection with the ERE case and the Chaves case

Conde-Pumpido's name is linked to the ERE case of Andalusia, a scandal over fraudulent early-retirement subsidies. The Constitutional Court's annulment of the sentence against Chaves and other convicted figures has been described by journalist Pedro J. Ramírez as "one of the great scandals of Sánchez's government." In that context, Conde-Pumpido's proposal to block the appeal before Europe has set off all the alarms. The question hanging in the air is whether the Constitutional Court can become the last political instance of a judicial system that no longer inspires trust in part of the public.

The Valle de los Caídos and the Bechí cross: the other battles

Abogados Cristianos does not only file complaints against Conde-Pumpido. Trinc its lawsuit, the association has managed to get the courts to order Patrimonio Nacional (the state agency managing royal and historic sites) to halt the exhumations at the Valle de los Caídos. It has also secured the reinstatement of the Bechí cross in the municipal cemetery. These are symbolic victories that reinforce its narrative: that of an association that stands up to the Government and wins in court. The complaint against Conde-Pumpido fits into that strategy of institutional attrition.

The reactions: from scepticism to outrage

Reactions were not long in coming. Some see the complaint as a legitimate move against what they consider a partisan use of justice. Others, however, interpret it as an attrition manoeuvre with no real prospects. Conde-Pumpido's image has been mocked on social media. But beyond the jokes, the matter raises a serious issue: the growing judicialisation of politics and the loss of prestige of institutions.

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Given these circumstances, the complaint is likely to move forward and the CGPJ will have to take a position. If the Disciplinary Commission decides to open proceedings, the institutional earthquake will be enormous. If it shelves it, the sense of impunity will be reinforced among critics. In any case, the attrition of Conde-Pumpido and the Constitutional Court is already underway. And it does not look like it will stop.