Venezuela appoints new high court

Bloomberg

Venezuela’s government-controlled National Assembly appointed the justices who’ll comprise a new slimmed down Supreme Court, many of them holdovers from the previous court, in a nod to overhauling a judicial system that’s long been criticised for its lack of independence.
The assembly chose 20 magistrates in all, 12 of whom were re-appointed to the court, known as the TSJ, according to Caracas-based nonprofit Justice Access, but only two are aligned with opposition groups.
The appointments follow changes made to the law governing the Supreme Court by the assembly two years after President Nicolas Maduro pledged reforms to address international concern over the judicial system’s lack independence.
The assembly’s vote “shows that the government does not trust new faces in the judiciary and prefers to run the risk
of maintaining the institutionality that previously existed,”
Ali Daniels, director of Caracas-based Justice Access, said.