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September 16, 2020 Mario Rosario Morelli is the new president of the Constitutional Court and succeeds Marta Cartabia, the first woman to hold this position.

He was elected by the plenum of the Court with nine votes in favor;

five went to Giancarlo Coraggio and one to Giuliano Amato.



Constitutional judge since 2011, he will remain in office for only three months because his 9-year term expires on 12 December.

"There is a long tradition in the appointment of the President of the Constitutional Court. I have lived in this building for 50 years, often the Court in front of a fragment of the president's duration that touches a month, underlines that the case of principle must be confirmed", he said at the press conference.

"In three months we cannot do what we can do in three years, but I assure the court of independence," he added. 



Morelli does not hide the critical issues "but I will try to carry out all the projects in the shortest time possible. Collegiality is the answer to short-term problems".



The president then announced that he had "already appointed two vice-presidents who will follow me by seniority: one, Courage, will probably be the next president, the other is Giuliano Amato".



Morelli was the judge who issued the sentence on the case of Eluana Englaro and, on the issue of rights, explained that "it is a given acquisition that the fundamental rights of the person are not only those listed in the Constitution, but all those that emerge from the social conscience with the character of analogy. There is a class of rights that we must enforce that arise from below, required by social conscience. The Court is open when a new law emerges, which automatically falls within the inviolable ones ".



The president of the Constitutional Court is not unbalanced on the referendum of 20 and 21 September, but states that the reform on the cut of parliamentarians "affects the Constitution in a relative manner and must be completed".