Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela

[1] Lower court judges were initially appointed by the President of Venezuela in combination with an administrative arm of the Court, but during the 1969-74 term of Rafael Caldera, the opposition-dominated Congress moved appointment powers to a Judicial Council with representatives of all three branches of government, but with a legislative majority.

[1] In 1992 "The Court found itself greatly discredited because of its refusal to act on charges of corruption against former president Jaime Lusinchi (1984–1989) and others.

Under considerable pressure during the process of selecting their replacements, Congress discarded the traditional practice of choosing judges closely identified with Venezuela's two largest parties, Acción Democrática (AD) and the social Christian Copei, on the basis of informal agreements.

Congress committed itself to selecting independents, and even accepted nominations from lawyers' associations and law schools throughout the country.

"Although most of the judges we chose", says Copei's national congressman Luis Guevara León, "were really not 'independent' -- that is difficult to be here in Venezuela -- they were for the first time relatively independent of their respective parties."