By Avv.  Salvatore Aprigliano — Studio Legale Aprigliano

Published June 12, 2026 

On June 9, 2026, the Italian Constitutional Court held a public hearing on the constitutionality of Article 3-bis of Law no. 91/1992, introduced by the Tajani reform. No decision was announced at the hearing: the Court reserved its ruling, which is expected, indicatively, between mid-july and september 2026.

What happened at the hearing of June 9, 2026?

On Tuesday, June 9, 2026, the Italian Constitutional Court (Corte costituzionale) held a public hearing in Rome on the constitutional challenges to Article 3-bis of Law no. 91 of February 5, 1992, introduced by Decree-Law no. 36/2025 and converted into Law no. 74/2025,  the so-called “Tajani reform” of Italian citizenship by descent (iure sanguinis).

The challenges were raised by three referral orders, heard jointly:

• referral order no. 4/2026 from the Court of Mantua;
• referral orders nos. 40 and 41/2026 from the Court of Campobasso.

At the hearing, counsel for the private parties argued for a declaration of unconstitutionality of the provision, which restricts the recognition of Italian citizenship by descent. The State Attorney’s Office (Avvocatura dello Stato) defended the constitutionality of the reform.

At the end of the arguments, as the procedure requires, the Court did not announce any decision: the judges reserved their deliberation for closed session (camera di consiglio).

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Has the Italian Constitutional Court issued a press release after the hearing?

No. As of June 10, 2026, the Constitutional Court has not issued any press release on the outcome of the deliberation concerning the citizenship cases.

This point deserves clarification, because it is causing confusion among Italian descendants following the case: after the hearing of March 11, 2026, the one that later produced Judgment no. 63/2026, the Court issued a press release the very next day. That press release, however, was an exception, adopted because of the particular significance of that decision.

A press release anticipating the outcome is not a mandatory step in Italian constitutional proceedings. The absence of a press release in these days therefore signals nothing, neither favorable nor unfavorable, about the outcome of the decision.

 

When will the Constitutional Court ruling on citizenship be published?

There are two possible scenarios.

1. A press release in the coming days. The Court may choose to anticipate the substance of its decision with a press release, as it did in March. If so, it will likely happen within a few days of the deliberation.
2. Waiting for the written judgment. If no press release is issued within the next week, it is reasonable to assume the outcome will only become known upon the filing of the written judgment. Drafting and filing typically take an estimated 40–50 days from the hearing. Considering the August judicial recess (sospensione feriale), publication is expected, indicatively, between mid/late July 2026 and September 2026.

What is at stake for Italian descendants

Article 3-bis of Law no. 91/1992 has radically restricted the recognition of Italian citizenship iure sanguinis, introducing preclusions that affect tens of thousands of pending proceedings and millions of Italian descendants worldwide, particularly in Brazil, Argentina, the United States, Venezuela, Canada and Australia.

The Constitutional Court is essentially called upon to decide whether the State may retroactively apply the new restrictions to people who, under the traditional principle of iure sanguinis, were considered Italian citizens from birth.

The decision comes in a landscape already shaped by Judgment no. 63 of April 30, 2026, which redefined the interpretive framework in this area, and by recent case law of the Italian Court of Cassation reaffirming the original nature of the right to citizenship by descent.