President Danilo Medina could use the majority he has of followers in the National Magistracy Council (CNM) to increase his influence in the Constitutional Court by pushing through four new judges, a report in Diario Libre highlighted on 5 February 2018.
This year three Constitutional Court judges reach the six year terms for which they were appointed and need to be confirmed or replaced. These are judges Leyda Margarita Piña Medrano, Jottin Curry David and Idelfonso Reyes. Another judge, Victor Gomez Berges, has completed his six year term and cannot be re-appointed, given that he has already reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 years.
The same news feature says that Medina could also take advantage of the retiring age of several justices to place persons loyal to him in the Supreme Court of Justice. The president of the Supreme Court of Justice was chosen for a seven year term that ends on 22 December 2018. Nevertheless, he could be elected for a similar period.
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Diario Libre
6 February 2018
