ABOLISH THE CA AND JBC
OF the public institutions on Planet Earth, nothing can probably beat the critical thinking and writing skills of the less than 10 men and women that There is a constant clash and tension in their judicial rulings, and that. But that tension and clash of views seem to enhance rather than diminish the collective brilmay come from the ponente or a dissident, but one thing is clear: the stark and convincing power of the arguments laid down and the intellectual heft behind every judicial vote. Roberts writing his unenthusiastic vote for Obamacare. Think of Ruth Bader Ginsburg writing her celebrated opinions on cases that aimed to whittle down individual rights and human liberties. The judicial views, which are mostly views on government power - and views on state and society - have been constantly characterized by diversity. But nothing has dimmed intellectual power that had been argued for or against a certain judicial issue of real import to the country.
The debates on the single isevolve with the times or should just stick to a strictly constructionist interpretation of what America’s Founding Fathers intended have turned out judicial writings that are enough for a practicing lawyer to read during his or her entire life of active legal practice.
For comparison, a local practicing lawyer can download a decision written down by Associate Justice Elena Kagan and compare it, say, with a decision written down by an associate justice of a difference?
Is there a place for an intellectual lightweight at the US High place a less-than-brilliant mind there. But just recall the attempt of President George W. Bush to nominate his then White House withdraw her nomination after critics pounced on her supposed lack of intellectual cred. Remember she was a White House counsel then, not just an ordinary lawyer. And her law school, the Southern Methodist University (this was where Justice Reynato Puno, a Methodist, trained) is not a pushover either.
in the US, because of that post’s sensitivity and impact on government and society, is a bloody process. Much of the nation gets involved in the process. One thing is guaranteed. The fill done in a cavalier manner. After the public examination of the nominee’s cred, the whole Senate recent decision of the US senate leadership to use the so- called because he can’t get the 60 votes required showed how hard the
Which reminds us of this: Do you - pointee of President Duterte to the pieces on the process that brought two questions, from 99 percent of the population, is No. Or zero. Despite the utter sensitivity of that post, and the impact that his votes we remember nothing of the recent
The current process, under lists down the nominees and gives a short-list to the President for inadequate to get the best man or woman for a vacancy at our own scrutiny of a nominee’s competence to delve into the law and explain its majesty is not even part of the process.
Which brings us to another inadequacy, the corrupted struc- Appointments, the bicameral body of 24, drawn from the HOR and the Senate, that passes judgment on the competence of nominees to cabinet posts and constitutional bodies.
In the recent rejection of Gina Lopez’s nomination as DENR secretary, one malignant thing stood out – the HOR contingent of 12 voted unanimously against Lopez and the most vocal advocate of her rejection was the brother of a mining tycoon with a venomous hatred for Lopez. Only in a tin pot democracy such as ours can the brother of a mining tycoon regulated by Lopez can sit in the competence to serve.
That an inspired choice who closed unsafe mines and taunted the mining billionaires can get booted out of the cabinet door on the collective vote of the entire HOR contingent is anomalous, yet perfectly legal under our tortured
These two inadequacies cannot go on and on and on and threaten our wobbling democracy.
The good thing is there is a the confirmation process. Let the whole Senate sit as judge on competence and know- how and character.
The current process cavalierly shifts the chaff from the grain