Today, the President of the Czech Republic appointed three new Justices to the Constitutional Court. This is part of an ongoing replacement process that began a month ago, when the terms of office ended for three first Justices appointed by President Miloš Zeman.
According to the Constitution, there should be 15 Justices on the Constitutional Court, but this has unfortunately been a rare occasion in recent years. Therefore, it is quite good news for the Constitutional Court that the President and the Senate have agreed on three persons to assume the vacant positions on the Constitutional Court.
Josef Baxa is a career judge with extensive experience in criminal law, as well as in the executive sphere, where he served as a deputy to several ministers of justice. For the past twenty years, he had been instrumental in elevating the Supreme Administrative Court's prestige through his organisational and conceptual skills, and he served as its President for fifteen years.
Jan Wintr is a respected expert of constitutional law with extensive experience in the legislative field. A professor at the Charles University Faculty of Law, author of a number of publications and member of several commissions and committees, his expertise will complement that of other Constitutional Court Justices.
The whole professional life of Daniela Zemanová has been intertwined with the judiciary. She started her career in administrative justice at the regional level and later became a presiding judge of a senate at the Supreme Administrative Court. However, she also dealt with civil law issues and served as the Vice-President of the Liberec branch of the Regional Court in Ústí nad Labem, right until her appointment as Justice of the Constitutional Court. She was also the head of the Czech Union of Judges for seven years.
A Justice of the Constitutional Court assumes office by taking the oath of office before the President of the Republic. The new Justices will be assigned to their particular senates and have cases assigned to them by the Plenum of the Constitutional Court. However, there is no doubt that they are well prepared to assume their new roles and remain ever-vigilant in protecting constitutionalism and human rights alongside their colleagues for the next ten years.
Finally, I would like to wish them much success and many wise decisions on their decade-long mission.
Vlastimil Göttinger
General Secretary