Manuel Marchena

In 2019, he was the head of the seven-member criminal court that judged the actions of the Catalan separatist leaders.

On 11 November 2018, it was rumored that he would been proposed to be the next President of the Supreme Court and of the General Council of the Judiciary. On 20 November, he announced that would not present his candidacy to chair the Court.

In 2018 he received the award of the Association of Lawyers for a Duty of Eligible Office (ALTODO), for the public recognition he made, in the sentence of which he was a speaker, to the legal aid lawyer, Cristóbal Sitjar Fernández, who defended the pederast of Ciudad Lineal, Antonio Ortiz.

In 23 March 2007 he was appointed magistrate of the Supreme Court and in 27 October 2014 he was appointed Chair of the Criminal Chamber of the Court.

He is the winner of the XX Prize The Law of Doctrinal Articles, convened by Editorial La Ley in 2006, awarded for the work: "Legal Criminal Dimension of the E-mail" and winner of the Legal Studies Prize "Foro Canario", convened by the Illustrious Bar Association of Las Palmas, Second Competition, May 1987. Granted to the work "Systematic considerations on the Law of the Parliament of the Canary Islands 1/1985 regulator of the Diputado del Común".

He is in possession of the distinguished Grand Cross of the Order of St. Raymond of Peñafort, granted by Order of June 24, 2002 and he is not registered in any association of jurists.

Marchena was born in Las Palmas. He studied in General Alonso High School of Laayoune, in the Spanish Sahara and in the San Ignacio de Loyola School of Las Palmas. He graduated in Law from the University of Deusto, Bilbao, in 1981, obtaining the highest score in the degree exam (with Honors). He received his doctorate in Law from the University of La Laguna in 1991, also obtaining the highest score, cum laude.