Constitutional Council overturns law on judicial independence

In a decision issued Wednesday, the Constitutional Council annulled, on grounds of unconstitutionality, Law No. 36, which introduced the new Judicial Organization Code, better known as the law on judicial independence, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

The judges made the decision unanimously, finding that the opinion of the Higher Judicial Council should have been sought before the vote, and that by failing to do so, the legislature violated the principle of judicial independence enshrined in Article 20 of the Constitution.

"It is the consultation that is mandatory, not the opinion given by the Higher Judicial Council on the text, which remains advisory," former Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm explained to L’Orient-Le Jour.

The Constitutional Council was seized following at least two appeals that were processed together. The first, filed in January by independent MPs, sought "partial annulment of certain provisions of the code and interpretive reservations to clarify ambiguous texts." The second, backed by lawmakers from the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), called for total annulment of the text.

However, the Constitutional Council did not address all the plaintiffs’ requests and rejected their arguments based on alleged violations of Articles 34, 36, and 57 of the Constitution, all of which concern rules governing the process of voting and enacting the law.

No official body has yet responded to the Constitutional Council’s decision. The law on judicial independence is one of the reforms demanded by Lebanon’s partners and recommended by the International Monetary Fund, with whom the country is in talks to secure a financial assistance program.

The law had been passed in July before being sent back to President Joseph Aoun for a second reading, then adopted again in December.