Final Word from Thursday, May 25, 2023

Outgoing Chief Justice Josef Baxa of the Supreme Administrative Court said after meeting with Pres. Miloš Zeman on May 29, 2018, that he was "leaving with a good feeling. We agreed on what kind of new leadership the Court should have." They didn't discuss his own future, he said. Eight months later, after it became clear that Zeman wouldn't appoint him to succeed Pavel Rychetský as chief justice of the Constitutional Court, Baxa changed his tune about the May 29 meeting and accused Zeman of indicating then that he wanted a quid pro quo for naming him to succeed Rychetský. Baxa failed yesterday to convince the constitutional-legal committee of the Senate that he should now be confirmed to the Constitutional Court and said that there is "shadow puppetry" surrounding his nomination. It's a continuation of what began earlier. Ironically, Baxa's confirmation now apparently depends on whether the new president, Petr Pavel, is willing to do a quid pro quo deal with the coalition-led Senate. [ Czech Republic judge positive ]