In a press statement released to the media on Sunday, Attorney Damian Gomez said a judicial review is being called, to question why Grand Bahama Attorney Maurice Glinton was not placed on the prestigious list.
Last month, Government House announced that attorneys Colin Callender, Emerick Knowles, Brian Moree, Philip Dunkley, Brian Simms, Sean McWeeney, Frederick Smith and John Delaney, had all been appointed Her Majesty’s Counsel.
Mr. Glinton, a highly regarded constitutional lawyer, was also reportedly recommended for a Queen’s Counsel appointment by Chief Justice Sir Michael Barnett, but it was not acted upon by the Cabinet of The Bahamas.
Mr. Gomez is calling it "racism".
"The recent commencement of judicial review proceedings relating to the exclusion of senior Negro advocates practicing at the Bahamas Bar admission to the inner bar by Maurice Glinton raising many issues that have plagued our community for centuries," Mr. Gomez said.
"Discrimination on both the political and racial level ought to be deplored and condemned. Yet, more than 50 years after the death of Alfred Francis Adderley, the most renowned Bahamian black advocate and victim of racial discrimination, our community is confronted by this plague."
Mr. Gomez noted that A.F Adderley was a mentor to numerous lawyers, whom he trained, mentored and befriended.
"Yet for all his brilliance and philanthropy he was denied the honour of being called to the inner bar of the Supreme Court of The Bahamas and a permanent appointment to the Supreme Court on the basis of race."
The attorney said the legal professions act of 1992 section 15 provides the statutory for the appointment of silks. He said an attorney applies to the attorney general for such an appointment; the attorney general is required to consult the judges, the Bahamas Bar Council and then the AG may accept the application and passes it onto the prime minister and then to the governor general.
Mr. Gomez said this process has been confused by a number of cabinets in The Bahamas.
"An extra statutory convention has been imposed upon members of the bar; the attorney general has arrogated to himself the ‘prerogative’ of determining when an attorney should apply," he said. "Additionally, the Bahamas Bar Council has been conscripted to nominate attorneys for appointment to the inner bar. Apparently several lists have been communicated to attorney generals and at least one prime minister."
The attorney also bashed former prime minister Perry Christie saying that he "failed or refused to communicate to the governor general the appointment of any silk."
"His excuse was a reverence for A.F. Adderley’s son, the Honourable Paul Lawrence Adderley who indicated a desire to be called to the inner bar if the legislation was changed so as to permit the recipient of such an appointment to use the title Senior Counsel. The nobility and patriotism of the Adderleys is boundless, and yet, besides the point: there are and were other attorneys worthy of appointment who were being deprived of an entitlement," Mr. Gomez said.
Mr. Gomez said the Bahamas Bar Association continued to lobby for its statutory obligation for the appointment of silks.
He added that the then attorney general invited applications of certain lawyers including black senior advocates and a number of white attorneys some of whom are advocates and others not.
The attorney said this year’s appointments had in common that they were "all male attorneys and they worked for law firms which were predominately owned by white people and supports the governing party."
"All black senior advocates were again deprived of an entitlement while suffering the additional professional injury of being demoted in seniority to the white appointees who were hitherto their juniors," Mr. Gomez said.
"We senior Negro lawyers might take solace in being in the hallowed company of A.F.Adderley and say nothing. Alternatively, we can fight for The Bahamas he dreamed of, worked for and invested in: The Bahamas free of racial discrimination, sexism and party political bigotry."
The attorney stressed that Glinton’s cause is not about a title but more about the community founded on principles of "openness, transparency, justice and the Rule of Law.
"Ultimately, his application is one to protect the inherent power of the Supreme Court to discipline and control its officers. The function of the courts depends on the existence of an independent Bar with the integrity and courage of that bar to speak to power," Mr. Gomez said.
"That function has been impaired with implications for our current chief justice: indeed, he sits there on the back of the past sacrifices of men such as A.F. Adderley. The office of Chief Justice ought not to be abused by politically inspired discrimination. Ironically one of our current Chief Justice’s first tasks, was to have the newly appointed silk sign the roll to the inner bar. The Supreme Court has now been dragged into executive sponsored discrimination. Is this the Bahamian bequest of A.F. Adderley?"
- Austin DWI - New York DWI