G.R. No. L-1612 February 26 1948 [Composition of the Supreme Court, ]
FACTS:
Petitioner assails the validity of Sec. 14 of the The
People's Court Act, Commonwealth Act 682, which provided that the President
could designate Judges of First Instance, Judges-at-large of First Instance or
Cadastral Judges to sit as substitute Justices of the Supreme Court in treason
cases without them necessarily having to possess the required constitutional
qualifications of a regular Supreme Court Justice.
ISSUE: Whether or not
Sec. 14 of CA 682 is constitutional
RULING:
No. Sec. 14 of CA 582 is unconstitutional.
Article VIII, sections 4 and 5, of the Constitution do
not admit any composition of the Supreme Court other than the Chief Justice and
Associate Justices therein mentioned appointed as therein provided. And the
infringement is enhanced and aggravated where a majority of the members of the
Court — as in this case — are replaced by judges of first instance. It is
distinctly another Supreme Court in addition to this. And the constitution
provides for only one Supreme Court.
Grounds for disqualification added by section 14 of
Commonwealth Act No. 682 to those already existing at the time of the adoption
of the Constitution and continued by it is not only arbitrary and irrational
but positively violative of the organic law.
Constitutional requirement (Art. VIII Sec 5) provides
that the members of the Supreme Court should be appointed by the President with
the consent of the CoA, "Unless
provided by law" in Sec 4 cannot be construed to authorize any legislation
which would alter the composition of the Supreme Court, as determined by the
Constitution.
However temporary or brief may be the participation of a
judge designated under Sec. 14 of PCA, there is no escaping the fact the he
would be participating in the deliberations and acts of the SC, as the
appellate tribunal, and his vote would count as much as that any regular
Justice of the Court. "A temporary member" therefore would be a
misnomer, as that position is not contemplated by the Constitution, where Sec.4
of Art. VIII only provides A Chief Justice and Associate Justices who have to
be thus appointed and confirmed (Sec5).
