The Constitutional Court (CC) has issued a position on the current process of renewing the Cortes. The court granted an injunction ordering the nominating commissions to submit the lists of candidates on time or else the commissioners will be held liable in civil and criminal proceedings.
The decision of the Supreme Court comes after hearing a legal action brought by deputy José Chic, of the Voluntad Oportunidad y Solidaridad (VOS) bloc. This reaffirms the upcoming judicial renewal within the timeframes dictated by the Constitution.
The nominating committees, both from the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) and the Court of Appeals, began to meet three weeks ago, but have not finished their first session because there are no agreements to define a venue or modify the agenda that would allow progress on other points.
The process of renewal of the Cortes for the period 2024-2029 has already been discussed by the current CC. This body has rejected injunctions and unconstitutional appeals that sought to stop the renewal of the Judicial Branch, reaffirming that the new officials must take office on October 13.
The resolution orders the commissioners to comply with the deadlines, objectives and mechanisms for the preparation of the lists, as well as to refrain from carrying out acts and incurring in omissions that may result in the delay of the delivery of candidates to the Congress of the Republic.
Failure to comply with the legal deadlines will bring legal consequences for the commissioners. “The above orders are issued under the warning that, in the event of non-compliance, they will incur the corresponding civil and criminal liabilities,” the document states.
The CC resolution guaranteeing the change of judicial authorities was issued unanimously. The five titular magistrates participated in the decision: Nester Vásquez, Leyla Lemus, Dina Ochoa, Héctor Hugo Pérez Aguilera and Roberto Molina Barreto.
Reactions
The nomination committee for the SCJ read the resolution of the provisional protection in favor of Chic. Some decided to speak out against the constitutional order that requires them to fulfill their task and avoid delays that could affect the renewal of the Judicial Branch.
Alejandro Arenales, dean of Universidad del Istmo, indicated that the CC’s position is important. He assures that they must define once and for all the headquarters of the nominating committee, which has affected the pace of work.
“The first thing is to take note and be aware of what this protection means for this commission. To speed up the actions that are conducive to our work, such as the certainty of the venue.”
Luis Fernando Cabrera, dean of the Universidad Mesoamericana, also indicated that the constitutional position cannot be ignored. “It is urgent, the CC’s resolution was made known. We cannot ignore it, there is an order from the highest constitutional court that requires us to comply with the deadlines.”
The presidents, the majority of the deans and a minority group of the College of Lawyers and Notaries of Guatemala (CANG), are seeking to have the Rafael Landívar University (URL) as the venue. They indicate that a change of venue could affect the pace of work of the commission, which is already experiencing delays.
Those who have sought to move to the Palace of Justice and more recently to the Congress of the Republic have been the magistrates and the majority group of the CANG.
Roberto Hernández, a judge and secretary of the SCJ commission, considered that there have been no malicious delays within the nominating committee. “We have had constitutional dialogues, democratic dialogues where we have defended our positions.”
Judge José Ortiz also considered that they have worked hard in these weeks. “I think we have been making progress with the different issues that concern us.” At this time, the nominating committee has not finished its first session and has only set its regulations and listened to social sectors.
New extension of functions?
In 2019, the judges of the CSJ and the Court of Appeals did not hand over their positions as required by the constitution. On the contrary, through a consultation, they sought the support of the previous CC, which resolved that they should remain in office until the new officials were elected.
This mechanism continued for four years, because it was not until November of last year, in a Congress dominated by the Vamos bloc, that the current magistrates were elected, who were sworn in for the 2019-2024 period.
According to statements by Oscar Cruz, president of the Judicial Branch (OJ) and the CSJ, the magistrates are maliciously seeking to delay the nominations. The reason, according to Cruz, is because they do not want to hand over the charges.
Observation groups such as Guatemala Visible and the Pro Justice Movement support this same view. However, the current Constitutional resolution reaffirms the impossibility of repeating the same scenario as in 2019, since the responsible commissioners could be held civilly and criminally liable.
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