This Wednesday, the Assembly of the Republic elected Dora Lucas Neto as the new judge of the Constitutional Court (TC) and will fill the position left vacant by Maria da Assunção Raimundo, who resigned in June.
The Judge-Adviser of the Supreme Administrative Court, appointed by the PS, had 187 favorable votes among a total of 219 voters, of which 23 were blank votes and nine were zero votes.
The President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, declared that “the candidate was elected”, after reaching the necessary two-thirds, during an election by secret ballot that took place this morning in Parliament.
Dora Lucas Neto has been an advisor judge at the Administrative Litigation section since this year, but her CV includes experience as a judge at the Administrative and Fiscal Court of Lisbon and the Administrative Court of Círculo de Lisboa, as secretary judge of the Supreme Court for Administrative Courts and Taxes, and also as an assistant judge at the Central Administrative Court South.
The Constitutional Court, a sovereign body created by the 1982 constitutional revision and which took office in 1983, is composed of thirteen judges, ten of whom are elected by the Assembly of the Republic and three of whom are co-opted from the former .
During the preliminary hearing in the Constitutional Affairs Committee on Monday, Dora Lucas assured Neto that “she has no program or ideology” and believed that in collegial decision-making processes it is necessary to be prepared to “convince and be convinced”.
The Supreme Court associate judge did not respond to deputies’ questions during this hearing about specific issues, such as metadata or the decriminalization of medically assisted dying.
“As much as I would like to discuss issues that are or could be pending in the TC, or that are divisive, I have my predisposition, my prior knowledge, but as a judge I am used to deviating from that in the process of forming my judgment on the cases I will decide,” he stated.
Dora Lucas Neto emphasized the “indisputable importance of the TC as guardian of the Constitution, in the uncompromising defense of the rule of law and the fundamental rights of citizens.”
“I feel able to contribute to this cause if elected. As a judge, let alone as a candidate for TC judge, I have no program or ideology to report on,” she said, ensuring “absolute independence” for the judge. all cases “according to the specific case and applicable law”.
No party has placed any obstacle on the candidate’s CV, and only Chega and IL questioned the timing of these elections, in the middle of a political crisis, with the judge claiming that she was invited before the resignation of António Costa, announced on November 7th.
Source: DN
