Forte courts trouble - J’can Bar Association, Knight on the attack, attorney general says comments misinterpreted

The Jamaican Bar Association has chastised Attorney General Marlene Malahoo Forte over comments she made in the wake of a court ruling attributed to Justice Bertram Morrison but she has hit back at her critics.

Earlier this week, it was reported in the media that Bertram had ruled, in an oral judgment, that detainees being held based on detention orders signed by the minister of national security are being held unlawfully and in breach of their constitutional rights and must be freed.

However, the Court Management Services has since explained that the judge indicated that he has heard sufficient information to cause him to have further enquiry into the matter.

However, in responding to the earlier reports, Malahoo Forte said “media reports about the unconstitutionality of detention under state of public emergency in a matter ruled on by a single judge who heard application for writ of habeas corpus cannot be correct”.

She went on: “There is just a worrying trend that I see in respect of some rulings coming out of the court when the law should guide the approach to be taken. I have seen many cases that have come back to me in the Chambers where what the law says is put aside both procedurally and sometimes substantially and matters are determined other ways now”.

“If ever our courts of law cease to be guided by or apply the law and instead become courts of public opinion, special interest, personal interest or anything less, then therein lies the biggest threat to our democracy!” Malahoo Forte wrote on Twitter on July 22.

But according to the Jamaican Bar Association in a statement yesterday, Malahoo Forte comments suggested that judgments of the court are not guided by law.

“We consider such statements to have the effect of undermining public confidence in the judiciary and the rule of law,” the association said as it called upon the attorney general to withdraw the statement.

Opposition Senator K.D. Knight yesterday chided the attorney general, arguing that by her statement the Government was in effect seeking to alienate citizens from the court system.

“Democracy is undermined if the court system is seen by the populace [as] being operated in a manner where matters are being determined ‘in other ways other than by the law’,” Knight said calling it “the greatest assault on the integrity of our system”.

Malahoo Forte subsequently released a statement in which she said that some of her comments have been received as an attack on the judiciary.

“It was never my intention to either attack any judge or undermine public confidence in the judicial branch. It is truly regrettable that my comments have been so interpreted,” Malahoo Forte, a former judge, said.

“The Judiciary of Jamaica can be assured of my unwavering support and that of the administration of which I am a part,” she added.

Public confidence in the court system in Jamaica has been very fragile over the years.

A United Nations Development Programme 2012 study indicated that more than 57 per cent of Jamaicans surveyed believe the entire justice system is corrupt, with a further 36 per cent of Jamaicans believing judges are corrupt.