THE Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has overhauled how it assigns judges to hear cases, in a reform that follows a turbulent period for the court following a breach of confidentiality when an email regarding internal affairs was leaked.
In a notice issued Wednesday, the CCJ said it has implemented, with immediate effect, revised arrangements under which all judges of the court will sit on all panels, with exceptions only when a judge is formally excused for a legitimate reason.
Three panel leaders, President Justice Winston Anderson and the court’s two most senior judges, will oversee the new system.
The court said the changes are meant to promote consistency, transparency and flexibility in the allocation of judicial work and to support the efficient administration of justice.
Leaked internal correspondence, first reported by the Trinidad and Tobago Sunday Express on August 9, revealed CCJ judges had accused Anderson, who became the court’s fourth president in July 2025, of running the institution in an “authoritarian” and “dictatorial” manner.
Given the nature of the claims, the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission has pledged an independent review.
Justice Anderson broke his silence five days later in a lengthy, nine-page statement. He rejected panel-fixing allegations outright, saying Justice Chile Eboe-Osuji’s removal stemmed solely from a dispute over the judge wearing traditional Nigerian dress rather than court attire, and had nothing to do with the case’s legal merits, noting the panel that eventually heard the matter ruled unanimously.
He dismissed the leap from that dispute to claims of manipulating outcomes as unreasonable and made in bad faith.
On the dress-code episode itself, however, he conceded he “may have approached the matter … too strongly.”
He also condemned the unauthorised leak of confidential court correspondence as damaging to judicial independence and public trust.