The Supreme Court has refused to temporarily suspend the appointment of Rafael Mozo as president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) to replace Carlos Lesmes, who resigned in October due to the lack of renewal of a body that will be in office for four years .
Legal sources have reported that the Administrative Litigation Chamber has dismissed the precautionary measures requested by the member Wenceslao Olea and the general secretary of the CGPJ, José Luis de Benito, who appealed the agreement that appointed Mozo substitute president of the governing body of the judges.
Previously, the Chamber had refused to accept the abstention raised by magistrate Juan Manuel Bandrés in the appeals filed against the agreement of the Plenary of the CGPJ, on October 13, by which Mozo was appointed as president.
The reason why he raised the abstention is because his name is that the progressives have put on the table as a candidate for one of the two positions of magistrates that the CGPJ must designate.
The conservative block was waiting for the position of the high court on the precautionary measures raised against the presidency of Mozo. One of the allegations for not advancing in the negotiations to elect the two magistrates of the TC that have been pending since September is that they could end up annulled if Mozo is removed from the presidency.
It is true that today's decision of the high court has only entered to assess the precautionary measures and not on the merits of the matter. What is in dispute is whether the CGPJ acted correctly by appointing the oldest member as a substitute in the presidency of the body of judges.
What both Olea and Benito raised in their appeals is that the substitute both in the presidency of the Supreme Court and in the CGPJ should be the most senior magistrate of the high court, that is, the current president of the Civil Chamber, Francisco Marín.
The Plenary of the CGPJ in its majority understood that Mozo should take the reins of the body of judges while Marín those of the Supreme Court.
The conservative block of the body believes that if the magistrates of the TC are finally appointed and then the Administrative Litigation Chamber overthrows the presidency of Mozo, everything that he has signed as president is annulled and therefore can cause damage to the operation both the Council and the guarantee court.
In fact, today the conservatives meet again to see what they propose in the plenary session that is held tomorrow. The progressives demand that they present a candidate now, once they have already said theirs, so as not to delay the appointments any longer.
