Supreme Court judge nominee, Clemence Honyenuga has called for an upper limit to the number of justices of the apex court.

He said the cap should, however, be high enough to afford the Chief Justice the chance to empanel justices without much sweat.

Answering questions from the House Appointments Committee on Monday, Honyenuga said the number can be capped at 17.

This, he said, would create a large pool of justices who would be available to be empaneled on cases even if more than one or two judges have recuse themselves from a case.

The current Court of Appeal judge, giving a scenario of this, said if he is approved to the apex court, he would have to recuse himself from any case coming to Supreme Court which he sat on at the Appeals Court.

He said should other judges also recuse themselves for similar or other reasons, it would make empanelling difficult.

However, if there is a large pool of judges, three set of panels can be created for three cases with two extra judges who may be out because they recused themselves.

The 1992 Constitution states in Article 128 that there “the Supreme Court shall consist of the Chief Justice and not less than nine other Justices of the Supreme Court.”

It further states that “the Supreme Court shall be duly constituted for its work by not less than five Supreme Court Justices….”

However, there is no mention of an upper limit on the number of justices that can be appointed to the country’s highest court.

Regional balance in the Supreme Court

Speaking on the composition of the court, Honyenuga suggested the appointing authority considers regional balance in the highest court.

He said this should be done so “one region would not feel that they are not being taken care of” at that level.

There would be four justices of the Supreme Court from the Volta Region if Honyenuga is approved.

He, however, added the appointment must always be subject to merit.