Cortizo hands Supreme Court majority to women

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Cortizo hands Supreme Court majority to women

Posted 07/10/2021

The appointment of two women to Panama’s Supreme Court announced on Wednesday marks the first time that the bench will have a female majority starting in  January.

 President Cortizo named Miriam Yadira Chen Rosas as magistrate of the First Civil Chamber, and María Cristina  Stanziola, magistrate of the Third Administrative and Labor.

Chen Rosas was appointed to replace Hernán De León, while Stanziola replaces Luis Ramón Fábrega, whose terms expireson December 31.

The appointments must be ratified by the National Assembly,

"For the first time in the history of the Republic, our Supreme Court of Justice has five women among its nine magistrates," said Cortizo.

The president also appointed Ariadne Maribel García as alternate judge of the First Civil Chamber, and Salvador Domínguez Barrios as alternate judge of the Third Administrative and Labor Litigation Chamber. In addition, it appointed Isis Omaris Joseph Garzón as an alternate magistrate for Magistrate Cecilio Cedalise, in the Third Chamber.

The president stressed that the selection process responded "to the need to have magistrates characterized by their independence, criteria, commitment, knowledge and character," as it was done in 2019 when he appointed three main magistrates and six alternate magistrates.“Once again I fulfill this responsibility, by filling the vacancies produced by virtue of the expiration of the constitutional period of two main magistrates and their respective alternates. One of them for the First Civil Chamber, and another for the Third Administrative and Labor Chamber ”, stated the president

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https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/cortizo-hands-supreme-court-majority-to-women

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Supreme Court elects a new  woman president

Posted 03/01/2022

Magistrate María Eugenia López Arias was elected as the new president of the Supreme Court (CSJ), replacing former magistrate Luis Ramón Fábrega, who ended his 10-year term on December 31.

 López Arias, who assumed the position of magistrate in December 2019, in the Second Criminal Chamber of the Court, replacing former magistrate Jerónimo Mejía, will hold the presidency of the Court for the next two years.

The vote among the nine magistrates of the Court, which has a majority of five female magistrates, took place hours after the new magistrates María Cristina Chen Stanziola and Miriam Yadira Cheng Rosas took office

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/supreme-court-elects-a-new-woman-president

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Raising the bar at the Supreme Court

Posted 04/01/2022

The Supreme Court of Justice has been renewed with the entry of two new members, thus adding five magistrates in a plenary session of nine members. María Eugenia López Arias now presides over the Judicial Branch, from where she will be able to undertake a great pending task: to lead the changes that justice needs in Panama, for which the Executive has promised her an additional $15 million, “to contribute to the strengthening of justice already the effective implementation of the judicial career ”, said the President of the Republic last Sunday. The debt that the Judicial has with the society is the enormous, reason why its new members face great challenges; the first, to restore credibility to justice, with rulings in accordance with the law and the Constitution. This same year, His leadership will be tested in high-profile hearings - such as the Odebrecht and Blue Apple cases - where senior former officials are indicted. It also has pending the task of correcting the excessive legal formalism that undermines judicial processes and that ends up being the way to circumvent the law and promote impunity. The outgoing magistrates (and some current ones) have set the bar very low, but if we want to be a respectable country, they will have to gain height. – LA PRENSA,  Jan 4.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/raising-the-bar-at-the-supreme-court