[UPDATED] Privy Council: Archie-led judicial commission unlawfully forced Ayers-Caesar to resign as judge
24 March 2025
THE Judicial and Legal Service Commission, chaired by Chief Justice Ivor Archie, has lost its challenge of a Court of Appeal decision that found the commission acted unlawfully by pressuring Marcia Ayers-Caesar to resign as a High Court judge in 2017. The Appeal Court ruled on October 12, 2023.
On March 24, the Privy Council declared Ayers-Caesar’s forced resignation in April 2017 was unlawful and violated her constitutional protections.
The Court of Appeal, in its ruling, had unanimously declared the JLSC’s actions illegal and its pressure on Ayers-Caesar to resign unconstitutional. The panel — Justices of Appeal Allan Mendonca, Nolan Bereaux, and Alice Yorke-Soo Hon — held that Ayers-Caesar never legally ceased to be a puisne judge since her resignation was unlawfully obtained.
The judges ordered her resignation letter removed from the President’s records and directed that she be compensated for violating her constitutional rights.
Ayers-Caesar, appointed as a High Court judge on April 12, 2017, resigned just 15 days later following public backlash over 53 unfinished cases from her time as a magistrate.
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She claimed she was forced to resign under threat that the President would otherwise revoke her appointment.
