Sri Lanka’s Constitutional Council Comes Into Its Own - The Supreme Court Vindicates the Council’s Role in Vetting Appointments to High Judicial Office

Sri Lanka’s Constitutional Council Comes Into Its Own - The Supreme Court Vindicates the Council’s Role in Vetting Appointments to High Judicial Office Dias, Sanjit Author aut Text xx# 2025 Verfassungsblog 2025-01-24 eng 2024 was full of landmark decisions, and the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ended the year with another one for the history books. In Pathirathne v Abeywardena and others, the court dealt with the controversial issue of the constitutional council’s refusal to approve the president’s nomination of a judge to the Supreme Court. This was the first case seeking review of a decision of the constitutional council. I argue that the decision is significant because the court affirms the council’s role in securing judicial independence, overrules (by implication) previous remarks on the council’s purpose, and strengthens the culture of inter-branch accountability. CC BY-SA 4.0 Dias, Sanjit election of judges Fourth Branch Guarantor Institutions 342 https://verfassungsblog.de/sri-lankas-constitutional-council-comes-into-its-own/ Verfassungsblog 2366-7044 Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH 10.59704/3e3bd1732be4f5bc 250124 10.59704/3e3bd1732be4f5bc Converted from MARCXML to MODS version 3.7 using MARC21slim2MODS3-7.xsl (Revision 1.140 20200717)