The Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) declared unconstitutional on Tuesday several articles of the General State Budget Law corresponding to the year 2021, related to the funds allocated to the entities that impart justice in the country, including the Judicial Branch itself.
The decision was made known through an edict released this Tuesday, February 8, 2022, by the general secretary of the CSJ, Yanixsa Yuen, although the decision of the plenary session of the Court is from last December 23.
The lawsuit had been filed on April 6, 2021, by representatives of the Judicial Council of Panama, in order to make the content of article 214 of the Constitution prevail, which states that the budgets of the Judicial Branch and the Public Ministry may not be less , altogether, to 2% of the current income of the Central Government.
The plenary session of the CSJ determined that articles 7 and 8 are unconstitutional, in the lines that establish the budget of the Judicial Branch and of the Attorney General’s Offices and of the Administration, and articles 28, 29, 30 and 31 of the Law 176 of November 13, 2020, which dictates the general budget of the State for the year 2021, for an amount of $24,192.3 million. This law is no longer in force, since it was replaced by Law 248 of October 29, 2021, which dictates the budget for the 2022 term.
Articles 7 and 8 of Law 176 of 2020 include a table with the current and capital expenses of all State entities. Meanwhile, article 28 dictates the budget of the Judicial Branch for 2021, which was $182.2 million.
The other three articles demanded (29, 30 and 31) refer to the budget of the Public Ministry. That of the Attorney General’s Office was $195.5 million and that of the Administration Attorney’s Office, $6.6 million.
If the budgets of the Judicial Branch and the two prosecutors are added, the figure of $384.3 million is obtained, which represents 1.59% of the total State budget for 2021. The Constitution orders that it must be 2%.
The ruling had ex-magistrate Hernán De León as rapporteur and was endorsed by Luis Ramón Fábrega (magistrate until December 31, 2021, like De León), Juan Francisco Castillo, Ángela Russo de Cedeño, Carlos Vásquez Reyes, Olmedo Arrocha , Cecilio Cedalise and Maribel Cornejo. José Ayú Prado saved the vote.
