Kosova: Judicial Council Can't Proclaim Legal Provisions Unconstitutional

Bratislava, 10 September (TASR) - The Judicial Council has no powers that would allow it to declare on its own that any legal provision is in the breach of the Constitution or to disregard any law, therefore it appointed members of disciplinary panels in accordance with the legislation currently in force, Judicial Council chair Marcela Kosova declared in response to the Constitutional Court's ruling that changes to the disciplinary panels of the Supreme Administrative Court were unconstitutional. The Judicial Council explained that by following a law which the Constitutional Court itself has described as "pro-judicial", it had also fulfilled its role as an institution providing judicial legitimacy. According to Kosova, this also refutes public attacks on the Judicial Council claiming that the body tasked with protecting judicial independence is directly contributing to its weakening. "If some people, including current or former judges, claim that the Judicial Council also bears full responsibility for the unconstitutional situation because it 'unconstitutionally' appointed members of disciplinary panels, this is not respect for the principles of the rule of law, but a call for anarchy. It is an extremely worrying signal," Kosova concluded. The Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday, 9 September, that provisions of laws governing the establishment and composition of disciplinary panels of the Supreme Administrative Court are unconstitutional. The provisions were introduced by a government amendment to the laws on judges and lay judges and on the disciplinary rules of the Supreme Administrative Court. Parliament approved the amendment last September after a group of opposition MPs challenged it before the Constitutional Court. The MPs also challenged a provision excluding Supreme Administrative Court judges who have served as judges for less than ten years from serving as chair or member of a disciplinary panel. In this case too, the Constitutional Court confirmed that the provision was unconstitutional. The Association for an Open Judiciary responded to the Constitutional Court's ruling by calling on the governing coalition and the Judicial Council to stop interfering with the constitutional powers of the courts and to bring the legal situation into line with the Slovak Constitution without delay. mf