Dr. Jennifer Carroll MacNeill:

Establishing a judicial council is essential but what it will do has not been clearly defined. As I understand it the original purpose was to provide a complaints mechanism so that members of the public or lawyers would have a mechanism by which they could properly address minor complaints against the Judiciary rather than the draconian measure that has never been used, which is impeaching a judge. As time has gone on, however, the role of the judicial council seems to be expanded, not necessarily by political circles, to one which will act as a representative body for the Judiciary, and now one which potentially may have a role in respect of judicial selection. That is very far from what was originally envisaged, and I would exercise great caution about expanding the role of such a body in that way.