Seniority or parity: the dispute that could lead a progressive judge to replace Marchena in the Supreme Court

Two judges compete for the presidency of two chambers of the Supreme Court: Ana Ferrer and Andrés Martínez Arrieta have presented their candidacy to replace Manuel Marchena in the Criminal Court; and Pilar Teso and Pablo Lucas will compete for the presidency of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber.

He Judge Marchena He ends his term on December 5, after ten years as president of the Criminal Chamber, the jewel in the crown of the Supreme Court in charge, among other things, of the investigation and prosecution of qualified persons, such as deputies, members of the Government and the state attorney general. The law prohibits repeating a third term.

Andrés Martínez-Arrieta He is the most senior member of the Criminal Court, the one with the most experience. If elected, it would be the case that he would have to retire before the end of his five-year term, since he is now 69 years old.

This circumstance works against him, according to sources from the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) who, despite this, recognize that he is the best positioned candidate; In fact, when Marchena leaves, he will be in charge of replacing him in the presidency precisely because he is the oldest.

And it is the best positioned, despite the fact that it belongs to the Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association and not the conservative Professional Association of the Judiciarybecause the conservative bloc of the CGPJ sees him in better eyes than the other candidate, the progressive Ana Ferrer.

Ferrer was one of the candidates for the progressive blocnext to Pilar Tesoto preside over the governing body of the judges and the Supreme Court. The struggle to provide a new presidency to the Judiciary, after the renewal of the CGPJ, was intense and was resolved two days before the inauguration of the judicial year.

Ana Ferrer, belonging to the progressive judicial association Judges for Democracy (JJpD), It was marked for the conservative sector by its dissenting vote against Manuel Marchena’s decision not to grant amnesty to the leaders of the Catalan process for embezzlement.

Once again, the pact between the two ideological blocks becomes essential. The chosen candidate needs to add at least 13 votes out of the 20 in the plenary session; and each sector has 10 members, although the presidency, Isabel Perelló, who has the casting vote, is from the progressive bloc.

For the progressive sector, it is essential that the judicial leadership reflects parity and this has been made clear in the CGPJ meetings, sources from said bloc indicate. The members at the proposal of the PSOE and Sumar have proposed that two of the four presidencies that are to be renewed should be occupied by women to comply with the parity law.

For conservatives, parity should be reflected in the entire judiciary of the Supreme and not in the presidencies of the rooms. The president of the CGPJ has requested a report from the legal service on parity in the judicial leadership, in order to avoid photographs full of magistrates and no or little presence of women.