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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

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Sir Burton Hall: Next chief justice 'no concern of mine' By BRENT DEAN ~ Guardian Staff Reporter ~ brentldean@nasguard.com: The outgoing Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall has no preference on who should replace him as the head of the judiciary after he retires in August. "And it isn't my call. Under the constitution, the chief justice like the judges of the court of appeal are appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister after consultation with the leader of the Opposition," said Sir Burton during an interview. "So the appointing authority, as I tend to refer to them, that's entirely their call. (It's) no concern of mine, doesn't involve me and I have no views one way or another." Sir Burton is scheduled to leave office in August. He has been nominated to become a permanent judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Sir Burton, 61, was called to The Bahamas Bar in 1978. He served in the Office of the Attorney General and as solicitor general. He was appointed a justice of the Supreme Court on February 1, 1991 and a justice of Appeal on April 1, 1997. On 4 September 2001, Sir Burton was appointed chief justice. There has been speculation about who will replace Sir Burton. Senior Justice Anita Allen, Justice Claire Hepburn and Appeals Court Justice Hartman Longley have all been rumored as potential successors. The process for selecting a chief justice, and justices of the Court of Appeal, is different than that to select justices of the Supreme Court. The prime minister selects the chief justice. The Judicial and Legal Service Commission chooses Supreme Court justices. The chief justice is chair of this commission. There is no parliamentary oversight of the secret selection process of judges in The Bahamas. "The nature of public examinations...is that unfortunately they tend to become concentrated on hot button issues and the public at the end of the exercise is to my mind no more enlightened as to the things that they really ought to be enlightened about, than they would be by a more detailed scrutiny by persons who would make inquiries," said Sir Burton. When the commission meets with the candidates, questions are asked by people who are experienced in the legal field, said Sir Burton, who has no problem with the current system. "Our system may not be perfect but I have no difficulty with it. And as I said, my bias may be that I have been presiding over it for the past eight years and prior to that I was a member of the commission under previous chief justices," he added. Besides the chief justice, the commission is made up of another justice of the Supreme Court or Court of Appeal, along with two people appointed by the prime minister who have or hold high judicial office and the chair of the Public Service Commission. Friday, July 3, 2009