The Government Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) debated this Friday on the pact between the PSOE and Junts, an agreement that has been criticized by the main judicial bodies of the State, from the CGPJ, the Supreme Court, the National Court and different Superior Courts as well as the associations of judges. The TSJC has managed to obtain a statement by majority but not by unanimity since two magistrates have taken a position against it and have advocated maintaining “partisan neutrality.”
Although the controversy has faded this last week after the reference to lawfare disappeared from the text of the amnesty law, the TSJC has deliberated on the matter at the request of two magistrates who proposed incorporating it into the agenda. The fifteen magistrates that make up the Government Chamber have voted by majority to express themselves against the pact and attack the allusions to lawfare, but not the amnesty law. “The exercise of the jurisdictional function is always in accordance with legality, the defense of the Constitution and the safeguarding of the rights and freedoms of all citizens, in particular, equality in the application of the law,” they stressed.
However, the statement has not been signed unanimously. The judges, Montserrat Comas and Andreu Endefaque, have shown their opposition to the statement and have issued a dissenting vote. The dissenting vote has been drafted by Judge Comas to which Enderaque has adhered. The document to which La Vanguardia has had access warns that “the Government Chambers of the Superior Courts of Justice do not have jurisdiction to issue agreements regarding pacts between political formations, given that no precept of the Organic Law of the Judiciary contemplates such jurisdiction.” “. And they add that they must maintain partisan neutrality and even more so when the courts and judicial bodies of Catalonia must interpret and apply the Amnesty Law.
“As the legal body of the government of the Judiciary, the Governing Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia is called to maintain the duty of neutrality in partisan debate, especially in an Autonomous Community where the majority of judicial bodies called to interpret and apply the Amnesty Law if it is approved by the Cortes Generales,” they highlight.
The Government Chamber of the TSJC has been very careful not to make any mention of the amnesty law. The statement is limited to the pact between Junts and the PSOE and the references to lawfare, that is, the use of justice for political persecution. However, the two dissenting judges recall that “the bill presented by the Socialist Parliamentary Group does not contain any reference either in the Explanation of Reasons or in its articles to the so-called lawfare.”
And they remember that the Cortes Generales are the body that represents popular sovereignty and exercises the legislative power of the State” while “the legitimacy of the judicial function derives from the connection of Judges and Magistrates to the Constitution and the Law.” For everything Therefore, they warn that “the actions of the legislator are subject to constitutional control under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court.” “Our legal and constitutional system guarantees judicial independence and it is the responsibility of the General Council of the Judiciary to protect the Judges and Magistrates who may be seen attacked in their independence. For all these reasons, “there is no need for a ruling from our Court on this issue,” they say.
