Justice

Csm, disciplinary convictions up 41%

Data from January 2023-October 2025 on the 194 sentences issued. Of the penalties imposed, nine were suspensions and eight removals. Only five appeals by the ministry

by Giovanni Negri

25 November 2025

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Numbers

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Reading the numbers, it does not appear that domestic justice, administered by the SJC, is so complacent towards magistrates. And even if this were the case, the Ministry of Justice does not identify significant elements to challenge the pronouncements of the disciplinary section of the Superior Council of the Judiciary. A theme that is anything but eccentric, given that the law on constitutional reform, which will be put to the referendum in a few months, subtracts the disciplinary jurisdiction from the future Csm and entrusts it to an unprecedented High Court, on the assumption of the alleged permeability of the current disciplinary judiciary to the pressures of the currents.

The Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio has repeatedly emphasised the need for intervention, relying on the one hand on the limited fallout of the Palamara case, which, according to the minister, deserved much different and more extensive attention, and on the other hand with a system of selection of disciplinary judges where it is the voter who is judged by the elected.

The numbers

The numbers, however, tell, at least in part, another story and may serve for a more thoughtful assessment. Focusing on the current term of office, the first after the one heavily affected by the Palamara scandal, which will end in January 2027, unless extended, in the period January 2023-October 2025 the disciplinary sentences issued by the dedicated section of the SCC were a total of 194, of which 41% (80) were conviction, 47% (91) acquittals, 12% (23) no case to proceed.

A non-trivial percentage of convictions, close to that of acquittals. And which, in any case, sees the ministry sticking to a line of fundamental non-contestation confirmed over the entire three-year period. The data on the appeals attributable to the Minister of Justice, in fact, testify only one appeal in 2023 (15 those of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Supreme Court), two in 2024 (22 those of the General Prosecutor's Office) and two this year (20 those of the Prosecutor's Office, four of which were initiated by the Minister).

In short, it does not appear that the ministry has much to say about the decisions of the disciplinary section. However, going into more detail and focusing on the sanctions imposed: there were 2 warnings, 44 censures, 17 losses of seniority, 9 suspensions and 8 removals. Among the conduct punished with the most serious measure, removal, were convictions received by the magistrate in criminal proceedings for serious offences against the public administration (among the cases, trafficking in influence, corruption and abuse of office).

A removal was motivated by the very serious delays in the filing of court orders, among the various disciplinary offences perhaps the most frequently contested against magistrates. On this point, which is all the more central in a phase in which the focus of attention in the Pnrr is on the attempt to cut the duration of cases as well as to reduce the backlog, the disciplinary section's line was not to overplay its hand, but rather to enhance the magistrate's overall productivity.

Outside the cases of late releases, delays that were in any case limited were the subject of acquittals due to the insignificance of the fact (11 judgments on this point), while all the judgments of declarations of liability concerned only cases characterised by a high number of ultra-long delays.

However, none of the acquittals for the offence of serious and repeated delays were appealed by the Attorney General's Office or the Minister of Justice.