President Leonel Fernández appeared live on television this morning from 8 to 10 am to answer questions by morning talk show hosts of different television channels on why he converted into law the controversial Judicial Career Bill. The program was widely broadcast by most television stations and radio stations all throughout the country. Controversial aspects of the law are the limiting to four years of the term of the present judges which then will be evaluated by the National Council of the Magistracy prior to their continuing for a new term to be established, and the obligatory retirement age of 75 for all judges. The entire Supreme Court was recently renovated after most of its members were incapable of carrying out their work due to their advanced age. President Fernández reminded Dominicans that the Supreme Court judges accepted to be evaluated by the National Council of Magistracy for the posts knowing that their appointment would not be for life. Article 17 of the law that rules the Council states that the judges will be appointed for the period determined by the Judicial Career Law that was only passed by Congress on 3 August. The legal consultant to the Executive Branch, César Pina Toribio upon announcing that the bill had been converted into law yesterday, had said that the President had decided to pass the bill, despite strong opposition of sectors that favor that posts be held for life, because he considers it is a step forward in the judicial reform process presently underway. Today, President Fernández expanded on this. He said that while the politically-oriented membership of the National Council of the Magistracy does not guarantee its objective, that was that the political forces not appoint the judges, its creation was an intermediate step forward in the judicial reform, such as he said is his passing of the Judicial Career Bill. The President favors what he calls relative immovability of the judges. In the TV program, the President said that if the judges were given immovability, they would not be accountability to anyone. He feels the system has not reached sufficient maturity to handle this. As established by the recently passed law, The National Council of the Magistracy will evaluate the performance of the Supreme Court judges after four years. These in turn will evaluate the performance of the judges they have appointed. The Supreme Court has been appointing judges all throughout the national territory. The President said he has acted as to his convictions, but that the issue can continue to be debated. He said he spoke on television because he wanted his point to get across, and not be subject to the sources of influence within the press forcing him to take a decision by creating favorable public opinion. The President said he plans to submit to the new Congress that opens next week a bill that would reform the passed law, and would establish a system of relative immovability of the judges, increasing their term to six years but also including provisions to evaluate their performance and permit an extension of their years in service. Law 327-98 was passed by the Chamber of Deputies on 3 August with the favorable vote of the deputies of the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano (PRSC) and the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD), and a group of deputies from the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD), despite the opposition of that party’s leadership. President Fernández said that prior to passing the law he sought to reach a consensus with the PRD in order to pass a law in which both sectors would be in agreement. This was not reached despite presenting the case to party congressional leaders Enmanuel Esquea and Milagros Ortíz. The president of the Colegio de Abogados has said he favors its passing saying that it avoids the implementation of a judicial dictatorship.
