The president of the National Bar Association (CNA), Juan Carlos Araúz, called on the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) to resolve the unconstitutionality claim against the justice budget as soon as possible, before the outgoing magistrates complete their term.
He added that the union has raised this demand from the Judicial Council, since they harbor the possibility that this could be concluded before the outgoing magistrates leave. “If for some reason there is a delay, we would agree that the project that Magistrate De León has been able to develop would have to be replaced by the new owner,” he explained.
The president of the CNA said that they are calling on the Supreme Court of Justice to resolve this claim of unconstitutionality, since it is related to its own operation, and it is an opportunity for society to have an example of how justice demands its own independence.
Araúz also indicated that, with the end of the magistrates’ terms, a more common phenomenon occurs in terms of projects or decisions that have already been voted on and that for some reason they have not contemplated the term for the decision to be finalized. “In these cases, it is common for there to be a delay in the projects that could be advanced under study by outgoing magistrates and that causes the new magistrate to make his own reasoning,” argued the lawyer.
He highlighted that the work dynamics of the plenary session of the Supreme Court and the way in which matters are decided implies that the rapporteur magistrate develops a project and is subjected to analysis by the rest of the magistrates of the plenary session, which implies that for several weeks a discussion is materialized, “for that reason it is not surprising that the matters that a magistrate carries under his responsibility remain half at the end of the period as such.”
In April of this year, the president of the National Bar Association, Juan Carlos Araúz and the president of the Citizen Alliance for Justice, Carlos Lee, presented before the Supreme Court of Justice, a lawsuit of unconstitutionality against articles of the general budget of the State, which they indicate limit the budget of the Judicial Branch and the Public Ministry.
This was a decision of the Judicial Council, which is currently chaired by the CNA, but the lawsuit was filed in a personal capacity and was signed by Araúz and Lee, because the Council does not have legal status.
At the time, both jurists explained that article 214 of the Political Constitution establishes a prerogative in the sense that the budget prepared by the Judicial Branch and the Public Ministry is sent to the Executive to be included in the general budget of the State.
