New institutional clash between the Executive and Judicial powers in a legislature already more than accustomed to them.
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The Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, sent a letter this Thursday to Isabel Perelló, president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), to complain that Judge María Tardón, of the National Court, prohibited the National Police officers commissioned to investigate the assault on the Ceuta border from reporting to their superiors, and thus to the Government.
Marlaska conveyed to Perelló his “concern” that a judge, in a situation affected by the National Security Law, prevents the officers she commissions as judicial police from informing their superiors in the Corps.
Perelló’s response was immediate, through another letter. The president of the CGPJ clarified to the minister, who was a magistrate in the National Court himself, that the governing bodies of judges cannot interfere in any decision of theirs, and also clarified that “the function of judicial police corresponds to all members of the State Security Forces and Corps, regardless of their nature and dependency”.
That is, any police officer commissioned by a judge automatically becomes judicial, according to Spanish law. At this point, Perelló responds to one of the key ideas spread by the Interior Ministry after the publication of the CENIF (National Immigration and Borders Center) report that points to Morocco’s responsibilities in the crisis: that CENIF does not have among its functions to act as judicial police. If a judge says it is, it is, assures the president of the CGPJ.
Furthermore, Perelló has certified judicial independence as one of the pillars of the Rule of Law. And, elegantly, she concluded her response: “In short, I am, as it cannot be otherwise, fully in agreement with you in your assessments about the seriousness and extraordinary nature of the crisis we are facing [arguments used by the minister to request information from Tardón], as well as that the magistrate’s actions correspond to the exercise of her constitutional functions, for which we must all show the utmost respect,” the letter concludes.
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First, Marlaska wrote that, “as Minister of the Interior, and also as a magistrate, I scrupulously respect, as it cannot be otherwise, judicial independence, the constitutional duty to provide the collaboration required by judicial bodies in the exercise of their jurisdictional function, as well as the dependency of the judicial police exclusively on judges and courts and the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the performance of their functions.”
Getting into the matter, he stated that, faced with a crisis situation that has forced the declaration of a situation of interest for national security, “it should not be incompatible to diligently attend to the information requests of judicial bodies with informing superiors and political leaders of any circumstances that may be relevant for decision-making in managing a crisis of such magnitude.”
For her part, Perelló has responded that the governing body of the Judiciary – and therefore she as president of the Supreme Court and the CGPJ – is constitutionally and legally prohibited from approving, censuring, or correcting judicial actions, as expressly provided in articles 12.3 and 176.2 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary.
It so happens that, before being minister, Grande-Marlaska, a career judge – with a position in the National Court – was a member of the governing body of judges and, therefore, knows perfectly the limitations of the Council regarding the jurisdictional function exercised by judges and magistrates.
On the other hand, the Government did not link the events in Ceuta with the National Security Law until the appointment of the single command, on August 25, when the local Government of Ceuta had been requesting its implementation since days before the jump on July 30 and 31. Tardón, for her part, commissioned CENIF on July 31 itself, and demanded secrecy towards her superiors even within the National Police Corps.
