Limitations of Human Rights in the Conditions of War and Peace: The Constitutional Aspect

This article examines the guarantees of the independence of the judiciary formulated in the doctrine of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania, particularly, in the Ruling of 15 April 2022. The independence of the judiciary is an important guarantee of the separation of powers and the system of checks and balances, which can be understood as encompassing both the independence of the court as a judicial institution and the independence of the judge. It is argued that the termination of judicial mandate is a process initiated and, to a certain extent, carried out by political institutions. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that the Judicial Council, in accordance with the requirements of due process, remains independent when approving or disapproving the opinion of the President of the Republic at the time of initiation of the removal of a judge from office. The role of the Judicial Council, as the guarantor of the independence of the judiciary, has become even more significant in the matter of dismissal of judges since the Constitutional Court extensively developed the constitutional doctrine on the Judicial Council and vested significant powers to this self-governing body of judges that is likely to protect judges from possible future populist political pressures in cases of their removal from office. The grounds provided for in Article 115 of the Constitution of Lithuania, i.e., conduct discrediting the judicial office, may also coincide with the constitutional grounds for impeachment, but unfortunately, the Constitutional Court has not formulated clear criteria for distinguishing between such constitutional grounds for termination of judicial mandate. Hence, the article concludes that the removal of a judge through impeachment becomes an alternative, more theoretical option for the dismissal of a judge, leaving the initiative of the impeachment process to the Parliament discretion despite the rich constitutional doctrine of impeachment that has been developed concerning the constitutional responsibilities of the President of the Republic and members of the Parliament.