Const Court Chief Voices Concern After Two Candidates For Judges Fail Senate Hearings

Chief Justice of Czechia's Constitutional Court Pavel Rychetsky expressed concern with delays in the process of approving new members of the top court after a Senate committee this week approved just one of the three candidates nominated by President Petr Pavel.

• Rychetsky told Seznam Zpravy that he was surprised with the committee's decision and hopes that the Constitutional Court will not get paralysed amid large turnover of judges this year. The terms of three judges expired in May, while four more (including Rychetsky) will retire by the end of 2023.
• The Chief Justice warned that Czechia "could reach a state where the Constitutional Court would not have a quorum and could not make decisions in plenary meetings." He added that the idea of not having a functional Constitutional Court "scares him quite a bit."
• Rychetsky said that he hopes that all three candidates presented by President Pavel will get the approval of the full Senate, when the upper house votes on their nominations in a plenary session next week.