President Ahmed Al-Sharaa issued Decree No. (149) of 2026 appointing the members of the Supreme Constitutional Court, headed by Dr. Essam Khaled Al-Khalif.
The decreemandated the Supreme Constitutional Court to monitor the constitutionality of laws and regulations, and to express an opinion on the constitutionality of draft laws at the request of the President of the Republic , pending the issuance of a law regulating their working mechanism and competencies.
One of the tasks of the court, as stipulated in the decree, is to express an opinion on the constitutionality of bill proposals at the request of the President of the Republic or the Speaker of the People's Assembly, as well as to interpret the texts of the Constitutional Declaration at the request of the President of the Republic or the Speaker of the People's Assembly.
What are the powers of the Supreme Constitutional Court?
The Supreme Constitutional Court is the highest judicial body competent to adjudicate constitutional matters, with the prohibition of combining its membership with any government position or membership in the People's Assembly as a judicial body independent of the legislative and executive branches, although its detailed organization will be promulgated later by a special law.
The formation of the Supreme Constitutional Court was based on Article (47) of the Constitutional Declaration, which stipulated the dissolution of the existing Supreme Constitutional Court and the establishment of a new court consisting of 7 members nominated by the President of the Republic with integrity, competence and experience.
The decree obliges the President of the Court and its members to take the oath of office before the President of the Republic before assuming their duties, and reads: "I swear by the Almighty God to respect the Constitutional Declaration and to carry out my duty faithfully and sincerely."
The formation of the court comes less than a week after the completion of the formation of the People's Assembly with the presidential declaration of the third of the people, thus completing the establishment of one of the most prominent constitutional institutions stipulated in the constitutional declaration during the transitional period.
Who are the members of the Tribunal?
President of the Court Essam Al-Khalif
The Supreme Constitutional Court is presided over by Dr. Essam Khaled Al-Khalif, a lawyer and academic born in the Al-Ghab region in Hama governorate in 1981.
Al-Khalif obtained a bachelor's degree in law from Damascus University in 2005, and then a master's degree in private law from the University of Aleppo in 2013 for a thesis entitled "The Contract for the Use of the Corpse for the Purposes of Educational Achievement. A Comparative Study", before he received his doctorate in law from the University of Idlib in 2023.
He first worked as an observer in the Hama Finance Directorate since 2010, before defecting from the regime in 2013, and since 2015 he joined the University of Idlib as a lecturer at the Faculty of Sharia and Law, and he also held the position of director of the public relations office at the university, then served as the secretary of the university, and headed the Central Committee for Laws there.
Dissident judge Khairallah Ghannoum
Judge Khairallah Nadim Ghannoum is one of the most experienced members of the court in judicial work, having held various positions in the Syrian judiciary for decades, most recently as an advisor at the Court of Appeal in the city of Homs before he defected from the regime.
In 2015, Ghannoum participated in the announcement of the establishment of the High Command Council of the Free Syrian Army General Staff, before taking over the presidency of the Court of Cassation that was formed in Aleppo province in 2018, and after the fall of the regime, he returned to the official judicial institution by appointing him as an advisor to the Court of Cassation in Damascus in August 2025.
Ismail Al-Khalfan PhD from the University of Montpellier
Ismail Hammadi holds a Ph.D. in International Law from the University of Montpellier, France, and has served as a faculty member at the Faculty of Law at the International University of Science and Renaissance in Azaz City.
After the fall of the Assad regime, he was assigned, in December 2024, to manage the work of the Deanship of the Faculty of Law at the University of Aleppo, before serving as the acting dean of the faculty, and was one of the members of the committee for drafting the constitutional declaration, which drafted the interim constitutional document regulating the transitional period.
Rayan Kahilan. PhD from Damascus University
Since January 2025, Rayan Hassan Kahilan has been the head of the Department of Public Law at the Faculty of Law at Damascus University, and she is also a professor at the Syrian Virtual University.
She received her Ph.D. in Public Law from Damascus University, with an academic specialization in Constitutional Law from France.
Over the past year, she has been a member of the Constitutional Declaration's drafting committee, appearing in a number of media interviews to explain the contents of the draft.
Lawyer Aref Al , Shaal
Aref Ahmed Al-Shaal graduated from the Faculty of Law at Damascus University, worked as a lawyer and legal expert, and participated in a number of committees in charge of amending Syrian laws over the past years.
Al-Shaal has published numerous legal studies and researches, regularly participated in television programs specialized in constitutional and judicial affairs, and participated in debates related to the independence of the judiciary, the Bar Association, exceptional courts, the death penalty, and transitional justice.
The composition of the Supreme Constitutional Court also included the membership of Judge Counselor Mohamed Mustafa Sebei and Judge Counselor Iman Antoine Nouri, both members of the judicial corps, according to the presidential decree, and we have not been able to obtain sufficient information about their biographies so far.
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