Macalintal: No basis to impeach justices By Ted Boehnert 03/13/2011

Macalintal: No basis to impeach justices

By Ted Boehnert 03/13/2011

There is no basis to impeach the Supreme Court justices merely on the claim that some of the magistrates may have not read the complete documents of the case against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez before a status quo ante order (SQAO) came out, renowned election lawyer Romulo Macalintal yesterday said.

Macalintal added the allegation that the temporary restraining order (TRO) in the Gutierrez case was issued without some justices having read her petition is not a ground to impeach any of the SC justices since “such an act does not constitute betrayal of public trust (or) of the grounds for impeachment.”

Macalintal said that “in issuing (TROs), Supreme Court justices are not expected to have the luxury to peruse or make an in-depth study of the petition and annexes but just rely on the ‘allegations in support of the motion for TRO’…which is usually contained in 3 -5 pages only.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110313hed6.html