Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo speaking at a Special Education of Professional Advocate (PKPA) organized by the Law Faculty of Andalas University virtually, Friday (4/12/2020) from Jakarta. Photo by Humas MK/Gani.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Procedural law is fundamental to advocates in fighting for their clients’ rights. Without an understanding of it, advocates cannot help clients seeking justice, said Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo at a Special Education of Professional Advocate (PKPA) organized by the Law Faculty of Andalas University (Unand) on Friday afternoon, December 4, 2020 virtually from Jakarta. 

He delivered a presentation on “Litigating in the Constitutional Court” with a focus on judicial review, one of the Constitution-mandated authorities of the Court. He explained that laws can be reviewed both materially and formally. Formal judicial review is related to lawmaking procedures, while material judicial review is related to the content/substance of laws. “Petitioners can file one or both at the same time, on the condition that the formal judicial review petition can be filed only until 45 days after the law is promulgated in the state gazette,” he said alongside moderator Beni Kharisma Arrasuli, a law lecturer at Unand.

He went on to explain one of the most fundamental things that set the Constitutional Court apart from other courts, i.e. the petitioner’s legal counsel, which is not necessarily an advocate. “This characteristic sets the Constitutional Court apart from the Supreme Court or the courts under it, which require [legal counsels to be] advocates. However, empirically speaking, most legal counsels in the Court are advocates, who are deemed to be familiar with the procedural law,” said the justice who began his career in law in 1986.

He then talked about the requirement of constitutional impairment for petitioners. This constitutional impairment must be specific, actual, or potential, which according to logical reasoning is inevitable. In addition, there must be a causal relationship between the perceived loss and the enactment of the norm.

He also talked about the procedure to file a petition in the Constitutional Court, both in person or online through the Court’s website. He then explained the stages of hearings: a panel preliminary examination hearing, a petition revision hearing, examination hearings, and the ruling hearing. The justices provide advice to improve the petition at the preliminary hearing. “Why is there a preliminary hearing? This is because in the judicial review of laws against the 1945 Constitution there are no opposing sides, so the Court through its justices can provide advice since no party will object to the revision points in the hearing,” said the justice who served at the High Court of Denpasar in 2013.

He by explained that petitions may be declared inadmissible due to not meeting formal requirements. Meanwhile, when they are granted in part or entirely, they have met formal requirements but part/the entirety of their substance have met the legal requirements. “Last, when petitions are declared conditionally constitutional, this is hard to find in general courts because the norm may apply with conditions or after a delay,” he concluded.

Writer: Sri Pujianti
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari
Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 12/07/2020 17:08 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian version, the Indonesian version will prevail.