The ECJ’s credibility is in tatters

[Julian]

Is the European Court of Justice (ECJ) a properly independent court?
The damning verdict of two respected EU law academics on an episode
involving the ECJ suggests it is not. This debacle also undermines the
EU's legal criticisms of Hungary and Poland – and raises worrying
questions about how the Northern Ireland Protocol will be enforced.

The sorry saga dates back to the aftermath of the Brexit vote, when one
of the ECJ's 11 advocates general, Dame Eleanor Sharpston, was sacked.
Dame Eleanor had every legal right to carry on. After all, ‘she’ didn’t
Brexit, the UK did; she also has EU citizenship and is an outstanding EU
lawyer. Unsurprisingly she took legal action to prevent her summary
dismissal and to stop the appointment of a new advocate general.

On 4 September 2020, an independent judge recognised Dame Eleanor's
dismissal was possibly wrong. A timetable was set out with an exchange
of evidence set for 11 September to determine whether that was so. But
none of it ever happened: instead, without telling Dame Eleanor (which
any fair process would surely require), the ECJ held a different
hearing, a day before, on 10 September. At that hearing, the ECJ struck
out Dame Eleanor’s case.

To add insult to injury, the ceremony to appoint Dame Eleanor’s
successor took place on the same day. All this without telling Dame
Eleanor what was happening. In doing so, the ECJ did not merely breach
the Rule of Law, it tore it up and set fire to the remains.

And yet, in the months since, the ECJ has chosen to double down rather
than come clean. In June 2021, the ECJ gave two further judgments to
justify its unjustifiable actions. The result was, in the words of those
two respected academics – Graham Butler, an associate professor of law
at Aarhus university in Denmark, and Dimitry Kochenov, who teaches law
at the Central European university in Vienna – that the situation was
made 'significantly worse', not least in its ruling that:

“'it is…immaterial whether the (government of the EU) acted within the
framework of the Treaties or other legal sources, such as international
law'.

The law inside the EU now appears to be this: the EU government does not
need to follow law – any law. And the ECJ will just nod along. Yet that
surely is the opposite of the Rule of Law.

It is now difficult to disagree with the conclusion that the Court of
Human Rights would refuse to recognise the ECJ as a proper court. Given
the ECJ's role in having the final say on any questions or disputes that
arise out of the Northern Ireland Protocol, this is extremely troubling.

It also presents a big problem for those who want to criticise Poland,
or potentially Hungary (nobody seems terribly interested in criticising
Germany), over their making – and breaking – of law.

For the ECJ to function, it must be independent. Lord Frost must face
this truth when negotiating over the Protocol in the weeks ahead.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-ecj-s-credibility-is-in-tatters

[Wilson]

"The Law" is for the peasants.

[Love]

In article <skbr51$l4m$1...@dont-email.me>, Wil...@nowhere.net says...

>
>"The Law" is for the peasants.

That's a familiar quote. Who said it first?
Was it Noah?


--
Love

[Noah Sombrero]

"Taxes are for only for the little people" - Leona Helmsley
But, yes quoted by me.
--
Noah Sombrero

[Noah Sombrero]

On Sat, 16 Oct 2021 11:22:39 -0400, Love <n...@spam.invalid> wrote:

Also something about how certain people are to big to even indict,
much less go to prison. But even if they do go, they don't go to the
same prison where you and I would go.

tRump being a case in point. In spite of the rumblings from the ny
atg, tRump, will never be indicted for anything, will never see a day
in any prison
--
Noah Sombrero

[Noah Sombrero]

On Sat, 16 Oct 2021 12:50:01 -0400, Noah Sombrero <fed...@fea.st>
wrote:

Bill Maher explained it in at least a plausible way. He said that
politicians should not start arresting each other depending on whether
they are in or out of power. The parallel with ancient rome and more
recently around the world here and there becomes much to ominous.

The R's didn't actually attempt to arrest hillary (lock her up). I
wonder how long they will be able to forbear?
--
Noah Sombrero

[Noah Sombrero]

On Sat, 16 Oct 2021 13:22:54 -0400, Noah Sombrero <fed...@fea.st>

Not that I would invoke a slippery slope. I think it is more about,
once the unthinkable becomes thinkable, is it more likely that the new
thinkable will become unthinkable again, or will it become actable?

Humans are not short of examples of how this has played out in the
past.
--
Noah Sombrero