IT'S OVER, AND THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT!

That the talk about the impeachment having 'far reaching repercussions' etc., is a great deal of hyperbole and the wishful thinking is obvious from some of the developments that we in this newspaper reported yesterday. On the one hand, the protest boycotts of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, so called, were such total non-events that even the private broadcast channels had no choice but to say that the courts functioned in the main without a blip.

On the other hand, a legal luminary of unassailable stature, Dr. J L M Cooray who had a stellar career as an academic in the law, stated yesterday in a contribution to this newspaper, that the law had been followed in the impeachment process, however inadequate the law may be. In other words, the constitution has been followed in the impeachment proceedings with regard to Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, and that is all that could be asked for in a functioning democracy - - that constitutional tenets are respected.

This newspaper carries today the second part of Dr. Cooray's article, and he states in this contribution quite clearly that nowhere in the constitution is it said that there is provision for instance, for judicial review, of matters that are fully within the purview of Parliament - such as the impeachment.

There is no doubt therefore that the current impeachment is something that is soon to be relegated to the limbo of essentially forgotten things, despite the fondest wishes of the haters and the saboteurs.

History, in point of fact, would say that the impeachment was something of - done against some odds - an achievement in that it was a move that preserved the integrity of the judiciary, saving the judicial branch from unwholesome encroachments.

The total rebuff of the Bar Association call to boycott court proceedings in the last two days, underscores that there isn't the remotest wish among the rank and the file of the Bar as it were, to be part and parcel of this comedic process of seeking regime change through the device of the impeachment drama.

Such desperation has rarely been witnessed in the annals of opposition politics in this country for a long time. Isn't it obvious even to the worst moron that the Appeal Court erred egregiously in trying to pass a writ on Parliament, making use of a vacation court, and committing so many other errors in the process, as has been detailed in the letter written by the Judges of the Court of Appeal to the President of that court?

Those who say for what its worth that there is some violation of the constitution in this impeachment, seem to ignore that this complex issue of the impeachment is not in the realm of regular jurisprudence. The key factors are fraught with such complexity due to the lack of clarity when it comes to a standoff of this sort.

Therefore, it leaves no room for the narrow view that just because two courts passed two judgements, it is somehow unconstitutional to go ahead with the impeachment. Anura Bandaranaike will be turning in his grave if things were to be as simple as that.

But the Paikiasothys and Weliamunas who call for contempt action against those MPs and others who adduce contrary views on these Supreme Court judgements, would have us believe that there is something sacrosanct about court judgements with regard to this very contentious issue.

If things were that simple they might as well ask for the Legislature to be permanently kept under lock and key because the Judiciary can run the country! The fact is that the constitutional thing to do in this instance, is to follow the constitutional procedure on the impeachment - however inadequate the process laid down in the constitutional document may be.

This is why Dr. Mark Cooray states that the process may be insufficient - it may be subject to improvement in the future - but it has been followed! The impeachment is over. It reaffirms the Rule of Law. To stand that reality on the head and say Rule of Law is being violated is ostrich like, and silly.