JLSC Case to be Heard on February 19th
A lawsuit brought against Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin as chair of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission is set to commence on February nineteenth before Justice Michelle Arana. The presiding officer of the Supreme Court is himself being dragged to court for sidelining the president of the Bar Association who also has a seat on the JLSC. But there is the likelihood that the entire process will be rendered moot since the bar president’s tenure expires in February and she is reportedly ineligible to run for another term. While the matter was adjourned after a brief case management conference today, Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte commented on the situation.
Michael Peyrefitte
Michael Peyrefitte, Attorney General
“The case management conference was today. We have two weeks to make our submissions and on February nineteenth oral submissions should commence. So we don’t know what will happen after that. I am told that the bar president’s term comes to an end sometime in February so I don’t know what, if the court would be interested in it after that or even if the bar would be interested in it after that because at that point it becomes moot. If there is another president who is not a public servant then, in my view, the Chief Justice would be in a difficult position if so he wants to restrain the bar president. I don’t see how if it’s another president and the president is not a public servant and that was the basis upon which he refused the current bar president from sitting in the meetings that he would then refuse the new bar president to sit in so…”
Isani Cayetano
“The matter remains alive, nonetheless, if the existing president were to be re-elected, correct?”
Michael Peyrefitte
“But what I am being told is, I am not a member of the bar, I am not aware of their rules, but I am being told that she is not eligible for re-election as far as I know. I could be totally wrong, I don’t know. But from what I am being told is that after February she won’t be the president again so it may very well be much ado about nothing.”
