The Constitutional Court: The Date is Set

The Constitutional Court has formally scheduled the hearing for 11 March 2026 to examine the questione di legittimità costituzionale raised by the Tribunale di Torino concerning Decreto Legge n. 36/2025 and its conversion Law n. 74/2025. The referral focuses on the compatibility of the legislative intervention with the constitutional principles governing temporal application of the law and legal certainty. In addition to the main party to the original case, several intervening parties have filed intervention submissions, reflecting the broader systemic relevance of the issues submitted to the Court.

The core of the upcoming discussion will revolve around the retroactive effect expressly attributed by the decree and the conversion law to their substantive provisions. The Turin court has questioned whether the government/legislature, by imposing retroactive applicability on situations that concern a citizenship right acquired originally at birth, has infringed, among others, Articles 3, 24, 25(2) and 111 of the Constitution, as well as the general principle of reasonableness that governs legislative discretion. Many scholars and practitioners share the view that the retroactivity clause exceeds constitutionally permissible limits, in particular because it would create a substantial revoking of an already acquired inalienable right, thereby undermining legitimate expectations and also impairing access to justice.

The Avvocatura dello Stato, representing the Government, is expected to contest these arguments and to defend the constitutionality of the legislative framework. Its position will likely rest on the premise that Parliament retains broad discretion in regulating citizenship matters—traditionally considered areas of sovereign prerogative—and may, within reasonable bounds, determine the temporal scope of the relevant rules. The State’s defence is anticipated to emphasise the need for legislative uniformity and the purported public-interest reasons underlying the 2025 reform.

The hearing will therefore provide the Constitutional Court with an opportunity to clarify once again the limits of legislative retroactivity. The decision—given its potential to impact both current and future cases—will be closely monitored by practitioners, scholars, and affected individuals.