Inese Lībiņa-Egnere explains that in many countries former parliamentarians – lawyers – work in the constitutional court.
Photo: Edijs Pālens / LETA
Māra Libeka, “Latvijas Avīze”, JSC “Latvijas Mediji”
The deputies of the Saeima will soon have to nominate and vote for a new judge of the Constitutional Court (SC), as Ineta Ziemele, who was re-elected by the chairperson of the SC in May, passed the competition and was appointed a judge of the European Union (EU) court on September 7.
It has been unofficially stated that the member of the Saeima Speaker Inese Lībiņa-Egnere (“New Unity”) could apply for the position of ST judge.
Also at the beginning of the ST, former politicians were elected to the Constitutional Court – Saeima deputy Aivars Endziņš, who, being the chairman of the Legal Commission, had prepared and led the adoption of many draft laws, Romāns Apsītis and Ilma Čepāne.
Former Judge of the People’s Party Vineta Muižniece later worked as a judge of the Constitutional Court, who was found guilty of forgery of the document, being the head of the Legal Commission of the Saeima, and therefore she lost her position as a judge.
However, it should be borne in mind that ST is increasingly receiving cases that do not show the high quality of the legislative process, so the question arises whether bringing a politician who has been involved in these processes to the judge’s chair will not create conflicts of interest and impede the impartial administration of justice.
Especially now that the local governments are submitting ST constitutional complaints about the administrative-territorial reform one by one and some of them have already been accepted by the court.
The potential ST judge candidate I. Lībiņa-Egnere, like the majority of Saeima deputies, has voted for the Administrative Territories and Settlements Law, but if she enters the judge’s chair, the former deputy would have to evaluate her own work, ie whether the articles of the adopted law comply with the Satversme , as the Constitutional Court has already accepted several applications of local governments for consideration.
I. Lībiņa-Egnere did not hide that she had been addressed by reputable colleagues in the legal environment and she perceived it as a high professional evaluation.
“All this time I have lived under, figuratively speaking, two hats. Not only under the hat of the political environment, but also under the hat of the legal environment, because I am an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Latvia. I have not been addressed by any political party, I am encouraged by the academic side, ”said the deputy, who has also worked for a short time as an assistant to an ST judge.
She considers that in each specific case adopted by the ST, it should be self-critical to assess whether conflicts of interest arise, but if such conflicts arise, the judge may withdraw from hearing the case.
I. Lībiņa-Egnere explained that in many countries former parliamentarians – lawyers – worked in the constitutional court. For example, a member of the German Bundestag is currently the President of the German Federal Constitutional Court.
The fact that past political actions cannot affect the judge’s work was established at the very beginning of the establishment of the ST, when the rejection of former political judges had been filed by one of the complainants, recalls former ST chairman Gunārs Kūtris, who went into the early stages of ST.
G. Kūtris: “At that time, the question arose as to whether judges could see the compliance of the laws with the Satversme, which they had adopted themselves. Then there was the explanation that this is not an obstacle, because the laws are no longer passed unanimously. For me personally, it doesn’t really make sense for a politician to get out of politics into a judge’s chair, especially if the law is challenged in court, which the politician elected as a judge has not only very actively defended, but even been the author of.
The first chairman of the Supreme Court A. Endziņš also believes that directing a politician to the constitutional court may raise questions, although in international practice such a situation is not uncommon.
For example, the Belgian Constitutional Court, known as the Supreme Court of Arbitration, requires that at least one third of the judges have parliamentary experience, as required by law.
Constitutional law specialist Edgars Pastars believes that it is not a problem that a politician is guided. The most important thing is whether this person is a professional.
“Lawyers of the Saeima, senior officials of the Ministry of Justice, ministers are also exposed to the highest risk when they come to the ST, because they will always have to assess in each case what they have done in the state. The risk is not so great for the deputies – they come in the second row, ”Pastars explained.
ST judge Gunārs Kusiņš, who headed the Saeima Legal Bureau for a long time, said that this year he had received a rejection from the complainant and the court had examined it and found it unfounded.
The ST law prohibits the dismissal of a judge, but the court decided a few months ago that it would still assess whether the dismissal expressed to the judge is justified.
The Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns and the Head of the Legal Bureau of the Saeima Juris Jurašs informed that the JKP faction of the Saeima will soon decide on candidates for the position of ST judge and that the party will most likely have its own candidates.
I. Ziemele will start working in the EU court only after taking the oath. It will be known when this will happen this week. Sanita’s Deputy Chairman Sanita Osipova will perform the duties of the Chairperson of the ST for the time while the judges elect a new Chairperson.
