The abortive firing of Constitutional Judge Fernando Cruz by a vote of the Legislative Assembly still simmers in some highly academic circles. The session that contained that vote by representatives was declared invalid by the president of the Assembly.

But the move still resulted in a demonstration Thursday morning in front of the Supreme Court building — not a march but a gathering of magistrates and academics speaking out for independence of the court from political pressure.

The demonstration was not a popular event, since most Costa Ricans would have to take a course in constitutionl law to understand the issue. And then, most of them still would not give a hoot either way.

The vote by 38 deputies was to not renew Cruz’s term on the bench. When it came time this week to try to override the nulifiction of the vote, those who had voted against Cruz found their number reduced by a dozen.

Speaking at the demonstration were University of Costa Rica rector Henning Jensen and former International Criminal Court justice Elizabeth Odio. The latter charged that the system interferes with the separation of powers, giving the legislative branch power over the judiciary.

Numbered among the demonstrators were PASE deputies Martin Monestel and Rita Chavez, and Wide Front deputy Jose Maria Villalta, plus members of the Social Security Workers Union and the public Employees Union.

Some carried placards reading, “Hands off Justice!” Others wore black clothing, carried white flowers or a national flag. Although none of the deputies who voted against Cruz gave reasons for their vote, it was widely interpreted as criticism of the Constitutional Chamber of the supreme Court (Sala IV) as a whole.

The assumption was further hardened Wednesday when Libertarian Movement deputy Patricia Perez spoke for less than five minutes in a congressional floor session, accusing Presidency Minister Carlos Ricardo Benavides of pressuring removal of Cruz.

Specifically, Benavides denied the charge and claimed Perez lied. Perez said, “Not only did Benavides call me 20 minutes before the vote… but also he called Friday asking me not to speak to La Nacion.”

The local subsidiary of the Canadian Industrias Infinito, owner of the controversial Las Crucitas gold mine whose permits were revoked by Sala IV, added fuel to the fire by alleging that public statements made by Cruz revealed a prejudice against the mine.

The mine had been a pet project of former President Oscar Arias who had declared the project “in the public interest.” Environmentalists filed suit after suit against the project, claiming environmental damage, later confirmed by still another court.

Commentary: Certainly, a modicum of political pressure is expected of a presidency minister who is chief of presidential affairs and the top advisor of the chief executiive.

But whether this constitutes the executive branch considering itself “the first among equal powers” as Odio put it, is stretching it a bit. Most three legged government (judicial, executive, legislative) structures in the world have checks and balances to assure that one power doesn’t run away with all the marbles.

Moreover, this might mean that reform would place the judiciary out of reach of elected representatives, never a healthy thing for a democracy. The current system has kept the judiciary somewhat accountable without direct meddling by the other two branches.

We suspect that political pressure was put on deputies by the Casa Presidencial. Certainly, it may have even come from Arias loyalists wanting to punish Cruz for opposing Las Crucitas in a vote where Arias lost political face.

So what? If an elected representative can’t stand up to a little political pressure, what are they doing running for a seat on the Legislative Assembly? It comes with the territory…