The judicial dialog program facilitated by the National Center for State Court (NCSC), Tuesday (12/6/2022) in Washington, D.C. Photo by MKRI.

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Wednesday, December 6, 2022 | 20:54 WIB

WASHINGTON, D.C. (MKRI) — To strengthen cooperation with institutions and courts in the United States, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI) participated in a judicial dialog program facilitated by the National Center for State Court (NCSC). The MKRI delegation led by Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra held a series of meetings in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, December 6, 2022. Constitutional Justice M. Guntur Hamzah, acting Secretary-General Heru Setiawan, Head of the AACC Permanent Secretariat and International Relations Department Sri Handayani, and expert assistant to constitutional justices Pan M. Faiz were in attendance.

The first meeting was held with the Administrative Office of the U.S. Court, where Director of Judicial Service Offices Omar Badawi talked about the important function of the Judicial Conference of the U.S. in formulating policies and regulations relating to all aspects and administration of federal courts in the United States. This judicial conference is directly chaired by the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court and consists of 26 judges from the court of appeals, district courts, and regional circuits.

Next, the MKRI delegation met and discussed directly with David Campbell, a senior judge at the Arizona Court. Campbell, who also serves as chair of the International Judicial Relations Committee of the Judicial Conference of the U.S., described how courts throughout the United States draft regulations and procedural law.

In order to prepare a recharging program for MKRI employees, the MKRI delegation also held a meeting with the Federal Judicial Center (FJC), an educational and research institution for the United States federal courts. Director of the International Office of FJC Mira Gur-Arie expressed her readiness to collaborate with the NCSC to support MKRI employee capacity building and training programs. Mira said that the FJC has a lot of experience conducting various comparative research on the legal systems in various countries.

Also read: MKRI Initiates Cooperation with NCSC

The judicial dialog program ended with a visit to the United States Supreme Court. The MKRI delegation was welcomed by Visitor Program Assistant Katherine Chatt and Fellow John Rockenbach. They discussed the Supreme Court's judicial review process and its organization.

One of the important things Rockenbach talked about was the number of petitions received by the U.S. Supreme Court each year, which amount to around 8,000 to 10,000 cases. However, they do an initial assessment to limit the cases to examine (a writ of certiorari). Based on the results of these assessments, the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately only examines around 80 petitions (1%) each year, mostly cases deemed to have substantive and fundamental issues at the federal level.

During the discussion, the MKRI delegation asked about the work mechanism in the U.S. Supreme Court, especially the support unit for Supreme Court justices.

“The U.S. Supreme Court justices have four law clerks, two judicial assistants, and several other support staff,” said Rockenbach.

In the MKRI’s recharging program planned for next year, the U.S. Supreme Court will become one of the subjects of learning. This program is aimed at strengthening the human resources of the MKRI to improve their support for the implementation of the duties of the constitutional justices and the institutional functions of the Constitutional Court.

Writer        : Sri Handayani
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 12/8/2022 08:12 WIB

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

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