The Revision of the Amparo Decisions by the Constitutional Court or the Supreme Court

Abstract

Due to the general by-instance procedural principle, the amparo decisions and also the judicial decisions issued applying the diffuse method for judicial review can be appealed before the superior courts according to the general rules established in the procedural codes. This general principle, of course, does not apply when the only competent court in amparo matters is the highest court in the country, as happens in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and El Salvador (Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice); or regarding decisions on judicial review of the constitutionality of legislation when the countries follow only a concentrated system. Consequently, except in these cases, the amparo decisions cannot normally arrive for their revision before the Supreme Court or the Constitutional Court, except when deciding on appellate jurisdiction or when an extraordinary mean for revision is established, in some cases similar to the writ for certiorari in the United States. In effect, particularly when constitutional issues are involved, the United States Supreme Court, when considering a petition for a writ of certiorari, is authorized to review all the decisions of the federal courts of appeals, and of the specialized federal courts, and all the decisions of the supreme courts of the states involving issues of federal law, but on a discretionary basis.