A Plenary Session:
- for confirmation in the Saeima, nominates the candidature of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court;
- elects the Chairs of the Supreme Court Senate’s Departments and the Chambers;
- elects two justices from among the chairs of the Supreme Court Senate’s departments and the chairs of the Supreme Court’s Chambers to serve as deputy Chief Justices;
- is also authorized to vote to recommend that the Prosecutor General or Chief Justice be removed from office;
- elects one justice to serve on the Central Elections Commission and may make a decision on the removal of a justice. Senator Peteris Dzalbe is elected Supreme Court Member of Central Election Commision in October, 2009;
- is empowered to nominate candidates to the position of the Constitutional Court judges from among the judges of the Republic of Latvia. Since 2004, Aija Branta nominated by the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court holds the position of the Constitutional Court judge, since 2007 – Uldis Ķinis;
- at a Plenary Session, the justices also review the results from the previous year’s work, report on financial and administrative activities, as well as discuss prospective tasks;
- pursuant to the law that is currently in effect, a Plenary Session may engage in discussions on interpretations of provisions of law. On December 3, 2003, amendments to the Law On Judicial Power became effective. The amended Part 2 of Article 49 provides as follows: "A Plenary Session may discuss any issues related to the legal interpretation of current provisions of law." Before the amendment, the law provided that a Plenary Session of the Supreme Court was authorized to issue advisory opinions with regard to application of laws and such opinions were binding to the courts. On February 4, 2003, the Satversmes (Constitutional) Court declared the previous version of Part Two 2 of Article 49 (in force until February 3, 2002) to be unconstitutional and in violation of Article 1 and Article 83 of the Satversme (Constitution) of the Republic of Latvia.
The Plenary Session decides and votes on issues. Votes, which are reserved for Supreme Court Judges, may be cast "for" or "against", with no abstentions allowed. A Plenary Session decision is valid if the majority of all Judges have voted in favour.
