Digital constitutionalism in action: the experience of the Colombian Constitutional Court

The Birmingham Law School annual lecture

Justice Natalia Ángel Cabo, vice president of the Constitutional Court of Colombia

The annual lecture explores the rapidly evolving intersection between constitutional law and emerging technologies through the lens of recent landmark decisions of the Colombian Constitutional Court. Drawing on recent rulings on content moderation, algorithmic transparency in access to public information, and signal blocking during public protests, the lecture will illustrate the types of challenges faced by constitutional judges in a digital age. The lecture will conclude with a reflection on the concerns and dilemmas confronted by constitutional courts in the global south in deciding these cases.

Speaker biography

Natalia Ángel-Cabo is Justice of the Constitutional Court of Colombia and currently serves as the court’s vice president; she will become president of the court in 2027. She also presides over the special chamber for monitoring judgment T-025 of 2004, which is tasked with addressing the structural challenges of internal forced displacement in the country.

In her work as a justice, she has served as rapporteur for landmark cases on contemporary issues and global constitutionalism, including Judgments T-123 of 2024 (forced displacement and climate change), T-232 of 2024 (risks associated with transnational surrogacy), T-067 of 2025 (algorithmic transparency), T-256 of 2025 (content moderation on social media), T-105 of 2025 (ethnic groups and access to land) as well as numerous decisions in the exercise of abstract constitutional review.

Prior to joining the Constitutional Court of Colombia, Justice Ángel-Cabo served as a tenured professor at the Faculty of Law of Universidad de los Andes, where she was responsible for teaching courses in constitutional law and public policy.

The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception in the Bramall Music Building rotunda.