Yesterday we showed you that NGO Senator in waiting Greg Ch’oc is, to use baseball terminology, on deck waiting for passage of the new constitutional amendment which will expand the numbers in the Senate. Well, he’ll have to wait a while. The Court of Appeals today heard arguments from both the government and the opposition-friendly group of citizens opposing the passage of the amendment without a referendum.
For the Attorney General’s office, Lois Young argues that the Chief Justice erred in law and misdirected himself in finding that the Referendum Act gave rise to a legitimate expectation that a referendum should be held. She argued that he also misdirected himself by saying that the referendum would be held after parliamentary approval. She called that an exercise in futility. On the other side, Lisa Shoman, Kevin Arthurs and Anthony Sylvestre opposed those arguments.
But the news is that the court reserved judgement until when it resumes sitting in February or March. So, until then, the Government has committed not to sign the package amendments into law.
