Supreme Court in "desolate" state, says "saddened" Chief Justice, with Spanish democracy "at serious risk"
Judge Francisco Marin Castán, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Spain, made the following remarks this morning in a speech before King Felipe, at a ceremony for the opening of the judicial year at the Supreme Court in central Madrid.
“In their work ‘How democracies die’, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt warn that, nowadays, decmoracy doesn’t necessarily die because of a violent or dramatic act, like a military coup or a revolution, but with a prolonged lament: the slow and progressive weakening of essential institutions, like the judicial power and the press…”
On the polarisation of politics: “the destruction of the adversary, as a political aim, is the precursor to a process of democratic degradation. The Athenian historian Thucydides saw that 500 years before the birth of Christ: for him, the decomposition of society derived from the ridicule of moderation, when considered as a disguise for cowardice”
Politicians must have as one of their common aims the proper functioning of justice and refrain from doing anything to erode that aim, “otherwise, democracy, and therefore the rule of law, are at serious risk”
“Political actors must be aware of the immense responsibilities the sovereign people have entrusted them with above party political interests”
“The current circumsntances cause me to feel profound sadness”
“[Last year] My predecessor as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Carlos Lesmes, made sure to point out how the political scenario of the past few years is weakening and eroding the main institutions of Spanish justice”
“Since he spoke those words, the grave problems that affect the functioning of our Judicial Power have only got worse”
“Is it normal in democracy for there to exist a Judicial Council whose mandate ran out almost five years ago?”
“Is it compatible with a normal democracy to have a Supreme Court […] with 30% fewer judges than it should have, with some chambers close to collapse?”
“…a brief description of the state of the Supreme Court, can be summed up in one word: desolate”.
A situation of “absolute emergency measures” in the third and fourth chambers of the Supreme Court, with “up to a thousand judgements a year” at risk in the worst case.
Citizens “watch perplexed as political actors, political representatives elected at the ballot box, prove incapable of reaching the agreements needed to put an end to this situation”.
“the impact on the rule of law is also of extreme gravity”
“The attack on a judicial independence can be projected not against a judge ruling on one case directly but against the institution that is obliged to protect its independence”.
“If the General Council of Judicial Power has as its main mission to safeguard the independence of judges, not renewing it in time and in the proper manner is a way of amputating the fullness of that independence, as is keeping the highest court in the nation in a critical situation, almost on assisted breathing”.