Medina gets his way with the new Supreme Court, at a cost

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - In Brief 10 Apr 2019 by Pavel Isa

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Last week the National Council of the Judiciary (NCJ) selected the new Thursdays that will be part of the Supreme Court of Justice. The CNM had the responsibility of selecting (or ratifying in its posts) 12 judges, out of a total of 16 judges that make up the court. Of the 12, only 3 were ratified and 9 were new judges. In general terms, the result of the process was the expected one. President Medina and the PLD have a large majority in the NCJ, because they control the Executive Power and the Legislative Power, and that allowed him to prevail. The PRM, in a clear minority, with only two of the eight members of the Council, could not do anything. The PLD, with six of the eight votes (the President, the Attorney General, the two presidents of both houses, the President of that moment of the SCJ and other judges of the same court) voted, in almost every one of the selections, in block, imposing its majority in a mechanical way. Based on that power, Medina managed to repeat what he did with the renewal of the Superior Electoral Tribunal and the Constitutional Court: it reduced the weight of the judges close to Leonel Fernández, and increased the number of judges politically close to him and the number of judges perceived as independent, several of them from the judicial career and with a long and productive career in the courts. In general terms, professionals knowledgeable in judiciary matters perceive that the quality of the court improved because it is politically more balanced and more professional. However, although less than before, it continues to be perceived that it is a political court, with greater influence of President Medina. Many perceive that the best pro...