Attorneys for Chief Justice Ivor Archie are expected to move for an adjournment to give them time to review and file affidavits in the landmark case of former chief magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar versus the Judicial and Legal Service Commission and Chief Justice Ivor Archie.
The T&T Guardian has been reliably informed that the CJ’s team will include Senior Counsel Deborah Peake, Russell Martineau and Reginald Armour when the matter is called before Justice David Harris on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Registrar of the High Court yesterday confirmed to Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj SC that there is no gag order on the matter. Maharaj had written to the Registrar on the issue last week, after reading media reports which suggested the documents in the case had been sealed although he made no such request.
Ayers-Caesar has alleged in sworn affidavits obtained by the T&T Guardian, among other things, that she was forced by the CJ and the JLSC to either resign or be removed. Legal sources told the T&T Guardian that had she chosen not to resign, the JLSC would have invoked section 137 of the Constitution, which speaks to how a judge is removed. Given the JLSC’s public pronouncement that Ayers-Caesar had been less than truthful about the part heard matters which were before her at the time of her elevation to the Supreme Court, the JLSC would have started proceedings against her for misbehaviour in public office.
But one former judge said while Ayers-Caesar’s affidavits are sworn statements that she was forced to sign a resignation letter, they are not enough to trigger section 137 against the Chief Justice. The former judge acknowledged, however, that the affidavits establish that the CJ “used force, and undue pressure, that is not the way for a Chief Justice to behave and could be viewed as misconduct.”
An important component of the case, according to the former judge, is the evidence of the two former judges who were members of the JLSC at the time, Justices Roger Hamel-Smith and Humphrey Stollmeyer. Both men have since resigned, but the T&T Guardian was told they will have to submit affidavits and if called to give evidence will have to do so.
Israel Khan SC yesterday agreed Stollmeyer and Hamel-Smith “are the most important witnesses in this matter.”
He said, “They cannot abdicate their responsibility because they were sitting members of the JLSC when the matter arose.”
Khan, however, did not share the view of Martin Daly SC that the CJ and head of the Public Service Commission Maureen Manchouk should resign, since he said they are “automatic members of the JLSC by virtue of the offices which they hold.”
Khan said the contents of the affidavits have now cemented his call for the police to investigate the matter. He said while there are calls for the Prime Minister to use his authority under the Constitution to initiate a tribunal “the Prime Minister cannot set up an inquiry without evidence that the CJ did something radically wrong. That requires a police investigation.”
Khan said he found it instructive that “Maharaj has signalled that the worse that could happen is that Ayers-Caesar could lose in the High Court and the Court of Appeal. It is an indication that he feels she may not get a fair trial locally, but he is sure he will win at the Privy Council.”
Former High Court Judge Herbert Volney is also of the view that the Commissioner of Police must act based on the information contained in the affidavits which are now in the public domain. Speaking on the CNC3’s Morning Brew yesterday, Volney said the Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard also “cannot continue to say and do nothing about it because he has taken an oath to defend the law and the Constitution.”
Volney is also of the view that things have “ripened,” since the meeting of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar. While he said the Prime Minister cannot rush in to set up a tribunal, he said Rowley must guard against the public losing further confidence in the judicial process. He said Rowley should “call in the Attorney General and the AG must speak to the DPP to get the considered opinion of the Commissioner of Police.”