Hostname: page-component-5db58dd55d-smskv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-06-02T17:12:31.275Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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

Information

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

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.

3 Tate 1970, supra at 109.

4 Tate 1970, supra at 118-120.

5 Tate 1970, supra at 131-135).

6 Tate 1970, supra at 150.

7 These works are written by two scholars. See Tate, C. Neal & Haynie, Stacia L., “Authoritarianism and the Functions of Courts: A Time Series Analysis of the Philippine Supreme Court, 1961-1987” (1993) 27 Law & Soc'y Rev. 707CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Tate, C. Neal, “Courts and Crisis Regimes: A Theory Sketch with Asian Case Studies” (June 1993) 46 Pol. Research Q. 311CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Tate, C. Neal, “The Judicialization of Politics in the Philippines and Southeast Asia” (April 1994) 15 Int'l Pol. Science Rev. 187CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Tate, C. Neal & Haynie, Stacia L., “The Philippine Supreme Court under Authoritarian and Democratic Rule: The Perception of the Justices” (June 1994) 22 Asian Profile 209Google Scholar.

8 Hulbary, William E., & Walker, Thomas G., “The Supreme Court Selection Process: Presidential Motivations and Judicial Performance” (1980) 33:2Western Pol. Q., 185CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 Wynn, James Andrew Jr & Mazur, Eli Paul, “Judicial Elections Versus Merit Selection: Judicial Diversity: Where Independence and Accountability Meet” (2004) 67 Alb. L. Rev., 775Google Scholar.

10 Peresie, Jennifer L., “Female Judges Matter: Gender and Collegial Decision-Making in the Federal Appellate Courts” (May 2005) 114 Yale L. J 1759Google Scholar.

11 Epstein, Lee, et al., “The Norm of Prior Judicial Experience and its Consequences for Career Diversity on the U.S. Supreme Court” (2003) 91 Cal. L. Rev. 903 at 960CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

12 Kevin, R., Johnson, & Fuentes-Rohwer, Luis, “A Principled Approach to the Quest for Racial Diversity on the Judiciary” (2004) 10 Mich. J. Race & L. 5 at 6–7Google Scholar.

13 Ifill, Sherrilyn A., “Through the Lens of Diversity: The Fight for Judicial Elections after Republican Party of Minnesota v. White” (2004) 10 Mich. J. Race & L. 55 at 57Google Scholar.

14 Hessick, F. Andrew & Jordan, Samuel P., (2009) 41 “Setting the Size of the Supreme Court” Ariz. St. L.J. 645 at 655Google Scholar.

15 Republic of the Philippines, National Statistics Office [NSO 2010], Projected Populations by Sex, Region and Province, and by Single-Calendar Years: 2000-2010, online: <http://www.census.gov.ph/data/sectordata/popproj_tab3r.html> (last visited 29 September 2010)+(last+visited+29+September+2010)>Google Scholar.

16 NSO 2010, About one in ten Filipinos 10 to 64 years old cannot read and write, NSO Special Release No. 193, online: <http://www.census.gov.ph/data/sectordata/fl03_lsf.html> (last visited 29 September 2010)+(last+visited+29+September+2010)>Google Scholar.

17 Central Intelligence Agency (2010) The World Factbook, online: <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rp.html> (last visited 2 October 2010)+(last+visited+2+October+2010)>Google Scholar.

18 Molintas, Jose Mencio, “The Philippine Indigenous People's Struggle for Land and Life: Challenging Legal Texts” (2004) 21 Ariz. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 269Google Scholar.

19 Feliciano, Florentino P., “The Application of Law: Some Recurring Aspects of the Process of Judicial Review and Decision Making” (1992) 37 Am. J. Juris. 17CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

20 Panganiban, Artemio V., “Role of the Judicial and Bar Council” Philippine Daily Inquirer (8 September 2007)Google Scholar.

21 Rufo, Aries, “A Reporter's Nightmare” Newsbreak (December 2007/February 2008) at 21–22Google Scholar.

22 See Lorenzo, Isa, “The JBC Under Scrutiny,” The Daily PCIJ, 06 February 2007, online: <http://www.pcij.org/blog/?p=1349> (last visited 13 December 2009)Google Scholar.

23 See Philippine Supreme Court, Supreme Court E-Library Memorabilia Room, online: <http://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/index.php?pageid=a45475a11ec72b843d74959b60fd7bd64563fea1ca2e1> (last visited 13 December 2009)+(last+visited+13+December+2009)>Google Scholar.

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.

25 See Case, William, “The Philippine Election in 1998: A Question of Quality” (1999) 39 Asian Survey 468CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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.”