And now we go back to the Senate, where a robust debate was sparked over several pieces of draft legislation passed at the most recent House Meeting.
Among the bills addressed today was the complete reformation of Belize's judiciary, which the government calls the Senior Courts Bill, 2022. This legislation seeks to amalgamate the Supreme Court - which will be renamed the High Court - and the Court of Appeal.
But, for this bill to become law, the Senate also had to pass the Belize Constitution (Twelfth Amendment) Bill. That's because any legislation change for the judiciary has to be enshrined in the Belize Constitution.
Here's the Senate Debate over the first few steps that are being proposed for the reformation of the judiciary:
During the Debate, UDP Senator Michael Peyrefitte raised his concern that there could be an implicit appearance of bias in any case that the Chief Justice hears under this newly-proposed Senior Courts system. Here's how he made the point that litigants could take a reasoned view that the Appeal Court cannot objectively review any appeal coming out of High Court cases heard by the Chief Justice, their would-be boss:
