Sanctus – Justice Secretary Xander Morgan today told the House of Deputies that the Government would be nominating former Attorney General Tara Gregory to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, replacing retired justice Matthieu Patrice. Gregory, who is 66, was Attorney General during the Turner government.
Gregory’s nomination was expected, with her being on the shortlist for some years now as former Attorneys General typically are; she is the first former AG to be nominated to the Supreme Court directly, however, rather than a lower court. Since leaving office in 2013, she has worked in private practice as well as holding an adjunct professorship in constitutional law at the Sanctus Academy of Law, which also happens to be her alma mater. At 66, she is already the oldest person to be nominated to the Supreme Court in over a generation.
With Gregory’s nomination, there is still one vacancy left on the Supreme Court, that of Georgina Reding’s former seat, which she vacated when she was appointed Chief Justice. It is understood by sources in the Chancery and the Department of Justice that the nominee was expected to be announced alongside Gregory, but withdrew themselves from consideration last week. Those same sources said the nominee was an “incumbent politician”, which would have been a significant break with tradition and likely to be controversial, which may have triggered the rethink.
Elsewhere, the Senate sub-committee on Justice unanimously voted to proceed with the nomination of Bernadette Coolidge, which was announced during the summer. The committee held public interviews with Coolidge last week, and the full Senate is expected to vote on her confirmation on Wednesday. She is expected to be confirmed unanimously, with no Senator having declared any objections thus far.
The same sub-committee will likely interview Gregory over the next few weeks, most likely in late September or early October, and should they vote to be satisfied with her qualifications, the full Senate will vote on confirming her a few days after that. Gregory’s nomination was welcomed today across the aisle; it did not go unnoticed that a DLP-Green coalition was nominating someone who served as AG for a SCP government, but all commentators today agreed she was an expert on constitutional law who should be given due consideration during her nomination.
LOUISA SOUTER, Crime & Justice Correspondent, and SOULLA WILDE, Political Correspondent
