The scales of justice are to be more balanced in Italy.
So says Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her allies in parliament.
The Chamber of Deputies, one of two legislative chambers in Italy, passed a constitutional amendment to upend more than 70 years of criminal justice tradition. The bill now goes to the Italian Senate for the final reading.
In a dramatic and chaotic session of the Chamber of Deputies, on September 18th, the governing coalition, led by Meloni, pushed through an amendment to separate the career tracks of judges and prosecutors. Applause from the majority sparked an uproar from the opposition, with lawmakers trading accusations that nearly erupted into an all-out brawl.
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A System Unlike the United States'
The controversy stems from how Italy’s justice system has long been structured.
In the United States, prosecutors and judges begin on entirely different career tracks. Prosecutors work for the executive branch—state attorneys, district attorneys, or federal U.S. attorneys—while judges belong to the judicial branch. If a prosecutor one day becomes a judge, it happens through a political or electoral process: the prosecutor usually resigns from his office to seek the nomination and win an election. In some states and at the federal level, a prosecutor is appointed to the bench by a governor or president. The two careers are institutionally distinct, even if individuals cross from one post to the other.
In Italy, until now, judges and prosecutors belonged to the same professional corps known as the magistratura. They entered through the same national exam—concorso in magistratura. They received the same training, and were overseen by the same governing body, the Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura (CSM). A magistrate could begin as a prosecutor and, with approval of his supervisor, transfer to the bench as a judge—or vice versa—without leaving the system. Judges and prosecutors climbed the same career ladder, differing only in the functions they performed.
Italy’s structure was entirely unique in Western democracies because prosecutors and judges operated as a unified bloc.
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Why the Reform?
Italian Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio, was the architect of the new law to reform Italy’s criminal justice system. A former prosecutor and magistrate, Nordio sought to strengthen judicial impartiality in Giurisdizione Ordinaria, as translated in English to mean the ordinary courts, where criminal and civil cases are tried and decided. By dividing the career tracks of prosecutors and judges, the law aims to ensure greater clarity of the roles to reduce conflicts of interest. Nordio and others have long complained that the Italian system blurred the line between advocate and arbiter: a prosecutor who once sought convictions could later preside as a neutral judge.
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Why the Opposition Objects
The opposition, led by former prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, and leader of Italy’s Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, claimed the reform was an attack on judicial independence. They argue that the unified corps gave Italy a judiciary strong enough to investigate corruption at the highest levels of politics. The memory of the Mani Pulite (“Clean Hands”) investigations of the 1990s still looms large: powerful magistrates uncovered vast webs of political graft to bring down entire parties. Schlein, a former volunteer for Barack Obama’s campaign for president, fears that splitting the career tracks of prosecutors and judges will weaken the judiciary to the system more vulnerable to political pressure.
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The law passed in a stormy parliamentary session. Members of the Democratic Party denounced the new reform as “indecent.” They accused the government of celebrating while ignoring international crises such as the conflict in Gaza. The session was suspended after near-physical confrontations broke out between lawmakers.
Beyond the theatrics, the reform represents a decisive break in Italian legal culture. The new amendment shifts Italy closer to the Anglo-American model of separate judicial and prosecutorial careers, though without adopting the U.S. practice of political appointment or election.
Editor’s Note: The article was published on 9/19/25. The first photograph shows some members of parliament pushing and shoving each other, a group of magistrates hold signs to protest the new amendment, the reforms were conceived by Italian Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio, the law's political opponents are former prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, and leader of Italy's Democratic Party, Elly Schlein. To learn more about Italy’s judicial system and the pending reforms, please visit the following link.
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