Dear Editor,
On September 6 last year I wrote a piece in the Stabroek News about the importance of the appointment of judges to the Appellate Circuit Courts in the United States and I was criticized by a few who asked what was the relevance to Guyanese. These critics seem not to understand the age old adage ‘If America coughs the Caribbean gets a cold.’
On Thursday three judges of the Ninth Circuit agreed with a single judge and blocked President Trump’s Executive Order restricting persons from seven countries from entering the United States. This decision is very important to Americans and can only be overturned by the entire panel of eleven judges of the Appellate Court, or the decision will have to be appealed to the Supreme Court ‒ the highest court of the land.
The Trump administration might be reluctant to appeal to the Supreme Court because at present there are only eight judges, and there might be a split decision between liberals and conservatives 4 – 4, and as a result the decision of the Ninth Circuit court would stand. It is fearful also that the Democrats will try to block or delay as long as possible the confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch who has been nominated by Trump to replace the late Antonin Scalia who died a year ago.
In my letter to the press I stated that former President Barack Obama “put in place appellate court judges in the 13 circuits of the court which will have a tremendous impact on the judiciary for a few decades.” I also stated that the regional appeals courts are currently more powerful than ever because of the vacancy of the late Justice Scalia.
Obama made 323 district and appeals court appointments during his eight years in office, He also named two Supreme Court justices.
Perhaps I should state that the three judges who blocked Trump’s Executive Order were not appointed by the Obama administration.
The appointment of judges in Guyana is different from that of the United States.
Judges are appointed by the Judicial Services Commission, but the Chancellor and
Chief Justice are appointed by the President after agreement with the Leader of the Opposition. There has been a gridlock because no agreement could be reached and as a result Justice Carl Singh who has been acting as Chancellor for the past 12 years is not yet confirmed and he is due to go into retirement later this month. Ian Chang who acted as Chief Justice for more than a decade was not confirmed either and he is now retired.
Yours faithfully,
Oscar Ramjeet
