In an interview with Huchi Lora, senator José Ignacio Paliza (PRM-Puerto Plata) highlighted that something good has come out of the Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez controversy at the National Council of the Magistracy (CNM). He observed this is that the people are now following more closely the selection of the Supreme Court of Justice judges. Paliza said the controversy has raised citizens’ concern for “a different justice than what we have today”.
Paliza is one of two members that represent the political opposition in the CNM that is the government body in charge of choosing the judges for the Supreme Court of Justice, the Constitutional Court and the Higher Electoral Court (TSE). The CNM is engaged in the selection of at most 12 justices that need to be confirmed or new judges appointed.
On the evening of Tuesday, 12 March 2019, Paliza and fellow party member Josefa Castillo had abruptly left the press conference the National Council of the Magistracy had called where Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez was to present a public apology to Supreme Court of Justice Miriam Germán Brito for statements he had been made in violation of the ruling of the CNM in a previous session on 4 March 2019.
Paliza left the hall responding to a nudge by his colleague Josefa Castillo after instead of apologizing, that evening the Attorney General used the press conference to justify the attempted discrediting of the judge during her assessment session by the CNM. Paliza said they chose to take distance from the contents expressed by Rodríguez during the press conference.
“We have a mission to foster a better judiciary,” said Paliza in the later interview with Huchi Lora and Amelia Deschamps. “That was why we were present for that press conference,” he explained. He said by participating in the National Council of the Magistracy the two PRM members seek to contribute to the building of “a different justice, to shake the present Supreme Court of Justice”. He says greater independence and objectivity are needed.
During the Tuesday, 12 March session, the eight members of the CNM had requested that Rodríguez present the apology and announce he would abstain from deliberations relative to Germán Brito for having publicly demonstrated he lacked objectivity. He had agreed to do so, but then read from a pre-written document where he instead justified his actions on 4 March 2019.
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14 March 2019