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Averting Diversity: A Review of Nominations and Appointments to the Philippine Supreme Court (1988-2008)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2015

Dante B. Gatmaytan  and
Cielo Magno
Dante B. Gatmaytan
Affiliation:
University of the Philippines
Cielo Magno
Affiliation:
Northeastern University
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Abstract

This paper is an empirical study on the nominations and appointments of Supreme Court Justices during a twenty-year period from 1988, when the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) was created in the 1987 Philippine Constitution, to 2008. The study examines the profile of individuals nominated by the JBC including their gender, age, geographical origin, academic background, and professional experience. It also explores whether the appointing Presidents display any preferences based on personal characteristics relating the effects of these preferences to the diversity on the Supreme Court. The study indicates that nominees and appointees all hail from the same background. As a result, membership of the Supreme Court is sorely unrepresentative of Philippine society. This study sets the stage for future research that will determine how this lack of diversity on the Supreme Court can affect the resolution of legal issues.

Keywords

selection of judicial appointeesdiversity
Type
Research Article
Information
Asian Journal of Comparative Law , Volume 6 , 2011 , pp. 1 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore 2011

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References

1 See Phil. Const., Art. Phil. Const., Art. VIII, § 7, par. 3. Judicial appointees must be of “proven competence, integrity, probity, and independence” but it is difficult to measure these constructs, so we opted to limit the study to an analysis of the more evident characteristics of those who are nominated and appointed to the Supreme Court.

2 Tate, C. Neal, The Social Background, Political Recruitment, and Decision-Making of the Philippine Supreme Court Justices, 1901 – 1968 (Ph.D. Dissertation, Tulane University, New Orleans, 1970) [Unpublished] [Tate 1970]Google Scholar. Tate, C. Neal (1970) The Social Background, Political Recruitment, and Decision-Making of the Philippine Supreme Court Justices, 1901-1968. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Tulane University, New OrleansGoogle Scholar.

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24 President Aquino actually appointed more Justices before the JBC was constituted under the 1987 Constitution. When she took office after the collapse of the Marcos regime, she abolished the Supreme Court and appointed its entire membership. Had Estrada's term not been cut short by a revolt, he might have been able to appoint more Justices.

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26 Since Barack Obama assumed the U.S. presidency in 2009, he was able to appoint two more women—Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan—to the Supreme Court.

27 In the U.S., new Supreme Court Justices have been found to adhere to stare decisis early on in their appointment but tend to strike out in new paths as they settle into the bench. See Jeffrey A. Segal & Harold J. Spaeth, “The Influence of Stare Decisis on the Votes of United States Supreme Court Justices.”