Who will be the new chief justice? Minister ‘confident’ on cross-party agreement
Judges Edwina Grima, Consuelo Scerri Herrera, Henri Mizzi, Laurence Mintoff and Robert Mangion seen as possible candidates; senior court lawyers
Justice Minister Jonathan Attard said he is “confident” the government and the opposition will be able to agree on a new chief justice, as the incumbent nears retirement age.
Times of Malta asked Attard whether he believed they could find a replacement for Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti before he turns 68 at the beginning of February.
“Yes, I am confident that, as we have done with other constitutional roles, we can find convergence on a person to have enough parliamentary votes to be made chief justice,” he replied.
Chetcuti will reach the mandatory retirement age on February 4. If both sides of parliament fail to agree on a successor by that date, a constitutional provision allows the outgoing chief justice to stay on until they do.
Attard said on Thursday talks on who can replace Chetcuti are ongoing between himself and his counterpart in the opposition, Joe Giglio, as well as between the prime minister and the leader of the opposition.
“I am optimistic that these discussions will lead to a new chief justice who will replace the sitting chief justice when he reaches retirement age. There is no reason for me to think these discussions will not end positively,” he said.
This is the first time a chief justice must be appointed by a two-thirds majority in parliament. To achieve that, the government will need the opposition’s backing.
Chetcuti was appointed chief justice in 2020. Despite getting unanimous approval from parliament, that was not required at the time as the appointment could have been via a simple majority. However, new legal provisions now make a two-thirds majority necessary.
The chief justice is the head of the judiciary. Besides presiding over cases himself, he decides which members of the judiciary hear which sorts of cases.
In the corridors of court and government, five names are mainly being mentioned as contenders for the post.
Four senior court lawyers that Times of Malta reached out to recently cited judges Edwina Grima, Consuelo Scerri Herrera, Henri Mizzi, Laurence Mintoff and Robert Mangion as possible candidates to take over from Chetcuti.
Senior government sources confirmed that those names have all been mentioned as possible contenders. This does not rule out others emerging as discussions between the government and the opposition continue.