The National Council of the Magistracy (CNM) announced their selection of nine new judges for the Supreme Court of Justice and confirmation of three Supreme Court judges on Thursday, 4 April 2019 at the 16-member Supreme Court of Justice. The eight-member jury of the CNM, chaired by President Danilo Medina, chose lawyer Luis Henry Molina Peña, the son of a former labor leader, as the new Chief Justice. He will also head the Judicial Branch Council (CPJ).
Molina has always received high marks for his management skills in the government positions he has held. Until last week Molina was the head of the Dominican Telecommunications Institute (INDOTEL). He was also active as a member of the board of the INTEC university.
Previously he had directed the Center for Export & Investments (CEI-RD) and was the first director of the Escuela Nacional de la Judicatura (National School of the Judiciary), where he served for 12 years directing the training of prosecutors and judges. He had also served as vice minister of the Presidency, working under Minister Gustavo Montalvo.
Molina is a member of the Central Committee of the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) and is known for an active role in the campaigning for the presidencies of Medina. Molina promptly resigned from the PLD, his job at Indotel and from the board at INTEC university.
The president of the Penal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, Miriam German Brito, was ordered to leave the bench as part of the sweep of the Supreme Court of Justice. Her assessment was the most controversial after the Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez used his turn to blast the judge with espionage and anonymous accusations that proved to be false, in violation of the ruling for the assessments.
On Friday, 5 April 2019, the new judges were sworn in by President Danilo Medina at the Presidency Palace. The eight new judges in addition to Luis Henry Molina Peña, are: Vanessa E. Acosta Peralta, Samuel Arias Arzeno, Anselmo A. Bello Ferreras, Napoleón R. Estévez Lavandier, María G. Garabito, Justiniano Montero Montero, Nancy I. Salcedo Fernández and Rafael Vásquez Goico.
Supreme Court of Justice judge Manuel Herrera Carbuccia was one of three confirmed to his post. He was appointed the first replacement of the president of the SCJ, and Pilar Jiménez, is the second replacement. The two other confirmed judges are Francisco Antonio Jérez Mena and Fran Euclides Soto Sánchez.
The judges who had not completed their seven-year terms to sit for assessment nor were of retirement age, nor had announced they were retired, and who will continue, are: judges Francisco Ortega Polanco, Moises Alfredo Ferrer, Blas Rafael Fernández Gómez, Pilar Jiménez and Manuel Alexis Read Ortiz. The judges that were irregularly removed, in addition to Miriam Germán, were Esther Agelán Casasnovas, Juan Hiroito Reyes, José Alberto Cruceta Almánzar, Robert Placencia Alvarez, Alejandro Moscoso Segarra and Sara Henríquez Marín.
The removal of the Supreme Court of Justice judges following the assessment by the CNM stands in violation with the 2010 Dominican Constitution that had established in Art. 151 that judges shall not be removed from office, or dismissed, suspended, transferred or retired, except on legally established grounds and with the due process provided by law.
Lawyer and political analyst Francisco (Pancho) Alvarez said that there is no criticism on the choice of the new judges. Rather, he said, what is wrong is the use of collective evaluation of the Supreme Court of Justice as justification for the removal of the judges. The law only establishes that individual assessments are to be carried out at the seven-year mark and legal grounds are needed for their dismissal. Art. 181 of the 2010 Constitution on performance evaluation says that a judge can only be removed from office if the decision is based on the grounds for removal specified in the law governing the matter.
“The Constitution does not contemplate a collective assessment,” said Alvarez. He said the decision is a blow to the strength of the Dominican judicial institution and a message to the new judges that their jobs are subject to their political bosses. Reinaldo Pared Pérez, CNM member and secretary general of the ruling PLD political party, had defended the extensive firing of Supreme Court judges upon making the announcement on Thursday, 4 April, alleging that the comprehensive purge of the Supreme Court of Justice was needed to meet demands for improvements. The National Council of Business had hinted on the outcome when earlier calling for “renewal” of the Supreme Court of Justice. There is speculation the business group had struck a deal for government support to changes requested on labor issues.
The voting members of the National Council of the Magistracy are: President Danilo Medina; the president of the Supreme Court of Justice, Mariano Germán; president of the Senate and secretary general of the ruling PLD party, Reynaldo Pared Perez; president of the Chamber of Deputies Radhamés Camacho (PLD-Pedernales) Supreme Court of Justice judge Fran Soto; Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez; senator José Ignacio Paliza (PRM-Puerto Plata), and deputy Josefa Castillo (PRM-Province of Santo Domingo).
TV journalist Huchi Lora on El Dia remarked on the dominance of the Presidency of the Judicial Branch. He described the conclusion of the judicial selection process as the country has gone from being under “the Supreme Court of Leonel to enter the Supreme Court of Danilo.” He was referring to the role of both PLD leaders in the choice of the Supreme Court judges who would issue deciding votes in corruption cases that affected former President Leonel Fernandez, and his key officers, former Public Works Minister Victor Diaz Rua and former director of the OISOE construction office of the presidency, Felix Bautista.
Opposition party member of the CNM, Puerto Plata senator José Ignacio Paliza, said people should give the judges time to tell if they make a difference. “We wish and hope that this recently elected Supreme Court of Justice may fill expectations of the people for an independent justice,” he stated.
The revamping of the Supreme Court of Justice follows the recent sweep of prosecutors under the Attorney General Office that was highly criticized for irregularities in the fast-track procedure that was used.
The National Council of the Magistracy has next on its agenda choosing judges for the Constitutional Court to replace those who have reached the nine-year mark. The Presidency also controls the Legislative Branch, where PLD senators and deputies are a controlling majority.
Follow the story in Spanish:
http://www.poderjudicial.gob.do/portada/detalles_noticias.aspx?IdNoticia=1745
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0WCkklERtc — Huchi Lora of El Dia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_99SXaBqTw — interview with Francisco (Pancho) Alvarez
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Nuria Piera
8 April 2019