Politics will raise Argentine Supreme Court doubts

Significance This relates to its declining efficiency, increasing tensions among its members and pressures from the political parties to influence high-profile judicial investigations involving former Presidents Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK, now vice-president) and Mauricio Macri. The recent election of Horacio Rosatti as its president has been welcomed by the judiciary as a positive move that could improve the Court’s functioning. Impacts Changes in the Supreme Court will exacerbate the lack of dialogue with the executive branch. Judicial decisions with significant political implications cannot be ruled out before the next presidential election in 2023. The government’s confrontational approach towards opposition parties will make it difficult to select a replacement for Highton.

Significance With an agenda increasingly influenced by Vice-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK), the objectives of judicial reform now appear limited to closing pending investigations against her and her family. Impacts CFK’s increasing influence in judicial policy will reinforce the view that Fernandez lacks the political power to advance his own agenda. The confrontational approach is increasing the influence of hardliners, which is ideologically damaging to other government priorities. Moves to reduce judicial independence will further undermine institutional dialogue between the Supreme Court and the executive.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 616-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn Dressel ◽  
Tomoo Inoue

To what extent do informal networks shape the decisions of the Supreme Court of the Philippines? Though often raised in the Philippines, this question has never been studied empirically. To answer it, we constructed a set of social network variables to assess how informal ties, based on university connections and work affiliations, may have influenced the court’s decisions between 1986 and 2015 in 47 politically high-profile cases. Providing statistically significant evidence for the effects of political influence (presidential appointments) and hierarchical pressure (the vote of the Chief Justice) on related networks, our analysis suggests a continuing tension on the Supreme Court bench between professionalism and informality. Because the findings advance both theoretical and empirical understanding of larger issues at the intersection of courts and society throughout the region, we recommend more attention to the role of judicial networks, external to the courts as well as within them.


Subject Morales pressures. Significance The UN-led International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) and the attorney general’s office on August 10 formally requested that the supreme court allow a legislative vote on whether President Jimmy Morales can be stripped of immunity from prosecution. Morales is facing investigation over allegations of illegal campaign financing, which undermine his stated commitment to combating corruption. Impacts Confrontation with the CICIG could affect aid financing from international donors, especially those linked to the UN. A successful push to remove Morales’s immunity would likely spark a series of similar motions against serving legislators. Popular frustration with the political establishment will position new, anti-corruption parties well for the elections in 2019.


Subject The Pakistan military's influence on domestic politics. Significance Parliament last month passed legislation extending the tenure of the current chief of army staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, for another three years. This followed a November ruling by the Supreme Court striking down an extension granted by Prime Minister Imran Khan's government. While Pakistan struggles to ease its economic woes and secure diplomatic support for its position on Kashmir, over which it disputes sovereignty with India, the politically powerful military is orchestrating efforts to mediate peace in Afghanistan and consolidate relations with key partners. Impacts The military will ensure that Khan remains in power, as it regards him as a suitably acquiescent prime minister. Most political parties will toe the military's line. Bajwa's likely successor as army chief, Faiz Hameed, may lack the charisma to command the same loyalty from senior officers.


Subject Caste politics in India. Significance In a sign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ability to shape the political agenda, the National Democratic Alliance's candidate Ram Nath Kovind was sworn in as India's 14th president on July 25. With attacks on Dalits (low castes) in the north Indian heartlands of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) surging, the nomination of a Dalit for the presidency was designed to strengthen the party's appeal to the community ahead of state elections. Impacts Support for the main opposition Congress party among Dalits will decline in Gujarat. Beef and leather exports will fall despite the Supreme Court suspending the ban on trading cattle for slaughter. Anti-Muslim violence may increase across the country.


Significance With all eyes on the political and security implications of the Supreme Court’s landmark annulment of the August 8 polls, elevated political risk is also impacting the economy, which could now see subdued conditions extend well into 2018. Given President Uhuru Kenyatta’s apparently comfortable victory and widespread approval by international observers, investors were stunned by the Supreme Court ruling, and are now likely to be cautious about fully re-entering local capital markets until the political clouds lift. Impacts Public investments under Odinga would likely focus on lower-profile but critical sectors such as agriculture and health. The government’s 1.5-billion-dollar precautionary IMF facility will buttress the currency if offshore investors accelerate their retreat. Kenya’s rankings on international governance indices could improve, increasing its appeal as a regional investment gateway.


Subject Cambodia's banned opposition. Significance The National Assembly last month passed an amendment to a law on political parties, enabling the prime minister to request the king to lift court-imposed bans on politicians. Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won all 125 seats in parliament’s lower house in last July’s election. The Supreme Court in November 2017 dissolved the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and gave 118 senior party officials five-year bans from politics. Impacts Indicted CNRP leader Kem Sokha could receive a royal pardon as part of efforts to appease foreign critics. EU trade sanctions will hit Cambodia’s export-oriented garments industry, threatening Hun Sen’s support base. Increasing Western hostility will push Cambodia further into China’s orbit.


Solusi ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-105
Author(s):  
Johansyah Johansyah

The Constitutional Court is the executive branch of the judiciary that is independent and separate from other branches of power, namely the government (executive) and legislative institutions. The Constitutional Court as a first and last level judiciary does not have an organizational structure as large as the Supreme Court which is the peak of a judicial system whose structure is vertically and horizontally covers five judicial environments, namely the general court environment, the state administrative court environment, the religious court environment, and military court environment. As an organ of judicial power that operates the judicial function, the Constitutional Court is independent, both structurally and functionally. The functions and authorities of the Constitutional Court based on Law No. 24 of 2003, namely the Constitutional Court has the authority to hear: Test the laws against the Republic of Indonesia 1945 Constitution; Decide on authority disputes between state institutions whose authority is granted by the Republic of Indonesia 1945 Constitution; Decide the dissolution of political parties; Decide disputes about election results; Give a verdict on the opinion of the House of Representatives that the President and / or Vice-President are suspected of violating the law in the form of treason, corruption, bribery, other serious crimes, or despicable acts, or no longer fulfill the conditions as President and or Vice President, as intended in the Republic of Indonesia 1945 Constitution.


1960 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 879-886
Author(s):  
Carl Brent Swisher

This annual ceremony of our non-partisan Association is being held at a time when most political scientists are preoccupied with the events of a fateful national election. To avoid any implications of partisanship, it seems best on this occasion to eschew politics in the conventional sense and to concentrate on institutional analysis not applicable to the current conflict. This discussion will therefore deal with the Supreme Court and with the Court primarily as an institution, rather than with problems of changing personnel or the political implications of particular decisions. It will assume that institutions are important in terms of their intrinsic nature and that the kind of institution to be used for a particular governmental task depends largely on the kind of task to be performed, with room for exceptions in exceptional circumstances. So it is that the Court will be presented not in isolation but as a part of the judicial system at whose apex it stands, and will be discussed in terms of the assumptions which lie back of and dictate its rituals, routines and procedures, and which have a great deal to do with determining its efficacy for the tasks allocated to it.Because analysis of hallowed institutions and ritualized performance is often incorrectly identified with the expression of hostility or disrespect, with only deference permitted on the part of him who would leave the ritual or the institution with the stature it had when he approached it, let me emphasize that the purpose here is not to attack or to disparage but to analyze and to encourage further analysis, with creative ends in view.


Author(s):  
Dawood Yasmin

This chapter examines the scope and protection of democratic rights in Canada. After outlining the source of democratic rights, it focuses on the right to vote by considering judicial decisions on such issues as voter qualifications, residency rules, and the entitlement to vote. It then shows how the Supreme Court has interpreted the right to vote as consisting of a bundle of democratic rights. By using the bundle of rights, the Supreme Court has been able to regulate a wide array of democratic institutions and processes. The chapter proceeds to examine the Court’s intervention in the electoral process by discussing its cases on electoral redistricting, political parties, campaign finance, and the dissemination of electoral information. The chapter concludes with an analysis of current and future challenges facing democratic rights and their protection by the courts.


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