María Victoria Calle Correa

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Calle and the second or maternal family name is Correa.
María Victoria Calle Correa
Magistrate of the Constitutional Court of Colombia
In office
April 2009 – April 2017
Nominated byÁlvaro Uribe Vélez
Preceded byManuel José Cepeda Espinosa
Personal details
Born(1959-05-08)8 May 1959
Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
SpouseGustavo Eduardo Gómez Aranguren
Alma materExternado University (LLM, 2007)
University of Medellín (LLB, 1982)
ProfessionLawyer

María Victoria Calle Correa (born 8 May 1959) is a Magistrate of the Constitutional Court of Colombia, serving since April 2009. Calle is the second female magistrate (after Clara Inés Vargas Hernández). A lawyer from the University of Medellín, she specialized in Administrative Law from Saint Thomas Aquinas University and the University of Salamanca, and received a Master's in Administrative Law from Externado University. Prior to her nomination, she worked in Previsora Seguros S.A., and insurance provider, since 2004, and was its vice president of legal affairs since 2005.[1]

Constitutional Court magistrate

Nomination and election

She was elected to replace Magistrate Manuel José Cepeda Espinosa by the Senate from a ternary submitted by President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, receiving 76 of the votes over her fellow nominees, Zayda del Carmen Barrero de Noguera and José Fernando Torres.[2] The nomination and subsequent election process, as well as that of her fellow magistrate Jorge Pretelt Chlajub which occurred at the same time, were criticised by Elección Visible, an election watchdog organization, for lack of transparency and the clear existence of back-door deals that permitted their election to have been secured from the beginning, and thus ignoring the ternary nomination process in which three compelling candidates are nominated and the Senate elects the best option; in their respective cases, each ternary list was composed of the favourite candidate and two lesser choices.[3] This lack of seriousness in the process was coupled in the media with the perception that President Uribe broke tradition by nominating candidates who were neither constitutional scholars, respected professors in academia, nor held a PhD—in marked contrast to their predecessors in the Court.[4]

Magistrateship

Calle's views were unknown at the time of her nomination and was generally regarded as a conservative, as her husband, Gustavo Eduardo Gómez Aranguren, a Magistrate of the Council of State had defined conservative views, and because of her nomination and strong backing by the conservative leaning Administration of President Uribe.[5][6] Nonetheless during her tenure, she backed most of the liberal block rulings such as Same-sex marriage and adoption by same sex couples, women rights and animal rights.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Curriculum Vitae" (PDF) (in Spanish). Administrative Department of the Presidency of Colombia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-01. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  2. ^ Rodríguez, Leonardo (2009-03-25). "Jorge Pretelt y María Victoria Calle, nuevos magistrados de la Corte Constitucional" [Jorge Pretelt and María Victoria Calle, new magistrates in the Constitutional Court]. El Espectador (in Spanish). ISSN 0122-2856. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  3. ^ Elección Visible (2009-03-20). "Marcado sesgo en candidatos de Uribe a la Constitucional" [Marked slant in Uribe's candidates to the Court]. Revista Semana (in Spanish). Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  4. ^ "Eligen dos nuevos magistrados a la Corte Constitucional" [2 new magistrates elected to the Constitutional Court]. Revista Semana (in Spanish). 2009-03-25. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  5. ^ "La nueva Corte Constitucional es más conservadora que la anterior y de menor perfil. Pero no es del bolsillo de Uribe" [The new Constitutional Court is more conservative than its predecessor and of lesser profile. But not in Uribe's pocket]. La Silla Vacía (in Spanish). 2009-03-26. Archived from the original on 2009-03-29. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
  6. ^ Cortés Castillo, Carlos (2010-03-07). "María Victoria Calle, la 'perfecta desconocida' que votó en contra del referendo" [María Victoria Calle, the "perfect unknown" who voted against the referendum]. La Silla Vacía (in Spanish). Retrieved 2011-07-28.