Federal Supreme Court of Iraq

The Federal Supreme Court of Iraq^[a] (FSC) is a financially and administratively independent judicial body and one of Iraq’s two apex courts. As the final court of appeal having the exclusive jurisdiction to interpret the provisions of the Constitution of Iraq, it effectively functions as the constitutional court.

Federal Supreme Court of Iraq
Arabic: المحكمة الاتحادية العليا Kurdish: دادگای باڵای فێدراڵیی
Established	2005
Jurisdiction	Iraq
Location	Green Zone, Baghdad
Composition method	see Composition
Authorised by	Constitution of Iraq, Executive Order (No. 30 of 2005) as amended by Federal Supreme Court Law (No. 25 of 2021)
Judge term length	Mandatory retirement at age 72
Number of positions	9
Website	iraqfsc.iq
President
Currently	Mundhir Ibrahim Hussein[1]
Since	31 June 2025

In addition to determining the constitutionality of laws and regulations, FSC reviews the application of federal laws, as well as settles disputes between the federal government, federal regions, governorates, municipalities, and local administrations. It also settles accusations directed against the President, the Prime Minister and the Ministers, and ratifies the final results of the general elections for the Council of Representatives.^[2] Since 2024, the court has expanded its authorities to include the power to amend regional legislation, such as those passed by the Kurdistan Region Parliament.^[3][4]

Composition

The Federal Supreme Court Law No. 25 of 2021, gives the heads of the following: Supreme Judicial Council, Federal Supreme Court, Public Prosecutor’s Department, and Judicial Oversight Commission together complete autonomy in selecting and designating the court’s members by including a clause that permits bypassing the President in case the presidential decree for the selected members is not issued regardless of the reason.^[5]

FSC is composed of a president, a deputy, and seven primary members. The law also stipulates that proportional representation of the main components of Iraqi society must be guaranteed in the court's composition.^[6] In practice, this has meant that it is composed of five Shi’i Arabs, two Sunni Arabs, and two Kurds.

History

In 2005, the Prime Minister of the Interim Iraqi Government, Ayad Allawi, issued an executive order titled Executive Order (No. 30 of 2005), granting the FSC extensive powers to determine the constitutionality of legislative and regulatory acts, arbitrate disputes between Baghdad and the regions and governorates, validate parliamentary election results, and assert exclusive jurisdiction over prosecutions against top government authorities. The court was also given several guarantees of independence, including at the administrative and financial levels. Due to the fact that the Supreme Court at the time was established by an executive order before the adoption of the new Iraqi constitution and the subsequent formation of the Council of Representatives, a separate law passed by the Council (by supermajority) that formally defines the court’s status was required to be passed, per Article 92 of the Constitution of Iraq.^[7] However, in June 2021, after a string of failed attempts to reach a compromise between Iraqi political parties representing different components of the society, the Council of Representatives nevertheless passed a law (Federal Supreme Court Law No. 25 of 2021) that amended the previous executive order that defined the FSC, notably, without the required supermajority.