[2] Each Magistrate of the Supreme Court is nominated by the General Council of the Judiciary and appointed by the Monarch for a lifetime tenure up to the age of 70, when they must retire (unless they request a 2-year extension).

The Court meets in its Palace, built by Antonio Ruiz de Salces on the site of the old Convent of the Salesas Reales in Madrid.

It can order ordinary and extraordinary remedies against decisions of lower courts according to the provisions of Spanish law.

The Supreme Court is responsible for processing substantial complaints of wrongdoing against prominent persons such as government Ministers, Senators, Deputies and members of the various regional parliaments, senior judges, including the President and judges of the Constitutional Court, the highest tribunal in the country – regarding constitutional matters –.

It also processes formal applications by the procurator (public prosecutor) to outlaw political parties, Generally, there is no avenue of appeal against a Supreme Court decision although, in criminal matters, the Crown may exercise the prerogative of mercy to invalidate sentences imposed or ratified by the Supreme Court, constitutionally, such appeals are resolved by the Council of Ministers and then formalized by the monarch, as head of state.

The Supreme Court is the head one of the three branches of the Spanish government, alongside the legislature and the executive To ensure its independence, the Supreme Court has the prerogative to enforce its actions under the principle of obedience to final judicial decisions enshrined in the Constitution.

The Supreme Court is the only entity that can order the detention of members of its own judiciary or the legislature or executive authorities and then impeach them according to the additional civil and criminal obligations, which, by law, it must discharge diligently in the performance of their official duties.

[7][8] In the current democratic period, the Court is divided into five chambers and neither the Constitution or the Organic Judiciary Act specifies the number of magistrates.

The Judiciary Organic Act of 1985 copy this procedure of appointment but specifies that the Royal Decree must be countersigned by the Minister of Justice.