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CJ In an Storm Of Controversy, Will Gov’t Renew Him?
posted (January 10, 2020)
So, the last few months of the Chief Justice's tenure is becoming contentious. He reaches the age of retirement in March, and both he and the Government will have to decide if his contract should be extended.

Here's what the Attorney General had to say when we asked if there will be a renewal.

Hon. Michael Peyrefitte - Attorney General
"We have to determine if the chief justice would even want to stay on. I can't assume that everybody is complete workaholic like myself. Being a judge is a tough job and the man is reaching 65 and he may very well say you can extend me to whatever you want me to do, I want to ride off into the sunset and enjoy my retirement, so firstly, he has to want to return, we have to want him to return and so those discussions are about to take place."

So, where does the Bar's Association's complaints of the Chief Justice's performance as a judge on the bench factor into his renewal?

As you just heard, the Bar Association has reminded the public that he still has pending judgments that are outstanding for over 4 years. The Attorney General briefly discussed how their lawsuit against the Chief Justice and those delayed judgments will factor into the decision of whether his contract should be extended or not:

Hon. Michael Peyrefitte - Attorney General
"The matter with the JLSE and the DPP, that would have to be determine by the court, but that won't play any role. The matter of the judgements as I said before, you can look at it 2 ways: you can say because of that he shouldn't be renewed, but you can also say because of that he should be renewed to give him the extra time to complete that work. All those cases will have to be re-litigated if the chief justice decides well he doesn't want to come back or we don't want his back. He will have to do those all over again. It wouldn't make sense in a way to say give you an extension so that you can finish your judgements and so that if you decide after that one year extension that you don't want to go anywhere beyond that, then at the very least you would have completed your judgements."

We'll attend the Ceremonial Opening of the Supreme Court on Monday, we'll have a full recap for you on our next newscast.

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