ABEDNEGO DAVIS
Africa-Press – Liberia. The Assigned Judge of Criminal Court ‘E,’ Mardea Chenoweth, has warned her colleagues, especially Justices of the Supreme Court, to take a more neutral stance in the ensuing crucial October 10 elections.
“When the law says to remain neutral, it also means that you don’t openly or clandestinely lend support to any individual politician or political party,” Chenoweth noted.
According to Chenoweth, while a justice of the Supreme Court is entitled to entertain his or her personal view of political matters, “he or she is not required by the statute law to surrender his or her rights as a citizen.”
“It would however be in his or her best interest and for the public good that upon his appointment to that bench of honor, as a Judge, Magistrate or Justice of the Peace, that he or she publicly resign his or her political affiliation, whatever political party of which he was a member prior to his elevation,” Criminal Court Judge added.
Chenoweth’s call came on August 14, when she delivered her charge during the August 2023 opening of Criminal Courts A, B, C, D and E for Montserrado County.
She also said the Supreme Court, as a reviewer of cases, should not do it without using partisan lenses “but work so solely on the basis of sound legal reasoning.”
On the court involvement with the civil unrest in the country, Chenoweth noted that “it is clear from the perspective of many writers in and outside of this country that the Judiciary was part of the problems that led to the civil uprising in this country, principally because of its partisan leaning in the ‘80s.”
She added that the decision of the court cannot and should not be inspired by partisan objectives.
“The judiciary must not be political and must remain inherently different from the other two branches of government,” Chenoweth emphasized.
On the matter of disposing of political disputes, Chenoweth said, justices should look in the faces of political actors to tell them that it is the electorate that decides the winner of the election.
“Those who are aspiring for political positions, in the Executive and the Legislature must be told in a loud voice that it is the electorates that decide those who win elections in this country and not the courts,” Chenoweth noted. “It will, therefore, be an illusion for any candidate to think that the Judiciary will validate any election result that will be a product of fraud.”
According to Chenoweth, when judges stray from the rule of law, they become a problem and not a solution.
“I admonish all of you judges, including justices of the Supreme Court, that as pillars of the stability of this country, we should remain mindful and focused on our responsibility to this State,” the criminal court maintained.
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