The first day of Carlos Camargo Assis as magistrate of the Constitutional Court was marked by a decision that immediately showed the complexity of the position he has just assumed, since just hours after taking possession in the Plenary Chamber, Camargo He filed a letter in which he expressed his impediment to participate in the lawsuit against pension reform.
In a letter addressed to the Plenary Chamber of the Court, Camargo referred specifically to the analysis of file D-15989, which studies a demand for unconstitutionality against Law 2831 of 2024, presented by Senator Paloma Valencia Laserna.
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The background reason, as explained in the official communication addressed to the Plenary Chamber, is that the shareholder in this process, Senator Valencia, participated in the vote on September 3 in the Senate, the same in which he was elected magistrate of the Constitutional Court with 62 votes of 103 possible.
This, he said, generates A conflict of interest that forces him to depart from any pronouncement on the file.
Carlos Camargo won the vote in the Senate and will be the new magistrate of the Constitutional Court. Opposition senators celebrated the triumph.
Milton Diaz
Likewise, it was explicit that “in order to guarantee the impartiality in the decision of this file, I express the impediment to pronounce on the three self -in -mention projects, in accordance with the provisions of articles 25 and 26 of Decree 2067 of 1991, specifically for the cause ‘to have interest in the decision’”.
The letter refers to the cars cited for the Plenary Sala session, focused on the chances against the magistrates Jorge Enrique Ibáñez and Héctor Carvajal, as well as the request for clarification of car 841 of 2025.
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The gesture is not less, since for a magistrate who as soon as his period begins in the Court, departing from a case of high political sensitivity sends a message of prudence and by some sectors it has been seen as an act of respect for the rules of impartiality that govern the court, since in practice, it means that it cannot participate in the deliberation or in the vote on the constitutionality of Law 2831 The Congress and that now comes into judicial review.
It is worth noting that the impediment was based on October 1, A few hours after Camargo lent an oath before the Vice President of the Court, Paola Andrea Meneses, in an act that, although solemn, was marked by the absence of figures such as President Gustavo Petro, critic of his election, and of the president of the Corporation himself, Jorge Enrique Ibáñez, who did not attend for health reasons.
The next week is expected to be decisive for the future of this law.
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Possession, however, was only the prelude to what quickly became his first great decision as a magistrate. With the impediment, Camargo sought to shield the legitimacy of the Court in the face of a case in which political and constitutional interests converge and did so under a premise that was clear in its discourse of possession, that “power is only justified to the extent that it is limited. Freedom becomes real when the law protects and not when it oppresses.”
Camargo, former fender of the town and with extensive career in the public and academic sector, thus begins its passage through the Court with a message of transparency; while his profile, marked by a speech of social sensitivity and defense of human dignity, will be put to the test in the major cases Transcendence passed through the court in the next eight years.
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But its premiere makes it clear that, at least immediately, it will not participate in the decision on Law 2831 of 2024, which is not something less at a time of high political polarization, the gesture of the new magistrate seeks to send a sign of independence. The Plenary Chamber must now decide if it accepts the impediment and how the file process will continue.
Daniel Hernández Naranjo
Portfolio journalist
