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Constitutional Court rejects judicial review request on tenure of its own judges
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Reelected: Vice President Jusuf Kalla (left) congratulates Constitutional Court chief justice Arief Hidayat (center) and his wife, Tundjung Herning Sitabuana, after his inauguration at the court building in Jakarta on July 14. Arief was reelected as the court's chief justice for 2017-2020. (Antara/Wahyu Putro A.)
T
he Constitutional Court rejected on Wednesday a judicial review petition to challenge several articles in a 2011 law that regulate the term of office for the court’s justices, including its chief and deputy chief justice.
Reading out its ruling in a hearing presided over by chief justice Arief Hidayat, the court said it could not find any legal basis to grant the judicial review request filed by the plaintiff – the University of Indonesia’s Center for Strategic Studies (CSS UI).
“The panel of judges cannot find any relevance between the center’s expertise and its purpose in submitting such a plea. The court does not find any loss related to the plaintiff’s constitutional rights [that could be a reason for submitting the petition],” said Arief, reading out the court’s ruling.
Represented by five of its members, the CSS UI filed the judicial review request in August last year to challenge articles regarding the court justices’ term of office. They claimed it should be lifetime.
The 2011 Constitutional Court Law stipulates that justices serve for five years with the possibility of being reelected for another five years. A Constitutional Court chief justice and his or her deputy serve two-and-a-half-year terms.
The CSS UI argued that the 2011 Constitutional Court Law was discriminatory because as a profession, justice did not recognize the length of service. Supreme Court justices serve until the age of 70, it pointed out. (kuk/ebf)
