Ambassador Murphy Against Murphy's Law

By Sifet Kukuruz, legal expert

In the recent period, the US Embassy in BiH, as well as the Office of the High Representative (OHR), have publicly stated on several occasions that foreign judges in the Constitutional Court of BiH cannot be excluded from the composition of the Constitutional Court of BiH without a prior amendment to the BiH Constitution.

In accordance with this position, the inclusion of the Bill on the Constitutional Court of BiH, which provides for this, on the agenda of a session of the House of Peoples or the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, represents a direct attack on the state of BiH.

At the same time, Ambassador Murphy's agreement to such a scenario also means a clear departure from the previously stated public position.

Instead of defending the state of BiH from those who have grossly attacked it, the ambassador publicly attacks those who have dared to defend the state of BiH. Of course, it is no secret that Ambassador Murphy and High Representative Christian Schmidt have already trampled on the principle of constitutionality in BiH, but supporting a debate in the legislative body on a prima facie unconstitutional bill represents the height of the negation of the rule of law.

It is also important to recall the fact that no bill can be considered at a session of any house of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH if it is not harmonized with the BiH Constitution, and in the case of the Bill on the Constitutional Court of BiH, proposed by SDS, it is completely clear that it is contrary to the BiH Constitution.

So that the public can more easily understand Ambassador Murphy's "logic," this situation could be equated to a situation where a referee, who adheres to the rules, cannot and will not give the signal to start the match if there are objects or persons on the field that, according to the rules of the game, should not be on the field during the match. Moreover, in such circumstances, if the referee behaves irresponsibly, every player has the right to leave the field without their action being treated as obstruction or blocking the game.

The reason is simple – it is about the safety of the players whose lives cannot and must not be left to the referee's calculation and discretionary assessment that no injury will occur to a player during the match or that all players will behave responsibly during the match and will not commit serious fouls.

Despite this, the ambassador publicly advocates that the Bill on the Constitutional Court of BiH should be considered and that the session of the House of Peoples at which such a Bill would be considered should be held, while simultaneously assuring the public that such a Bill cannot and will not receive support in either the House of Peoples or the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. In this way, in addition to agreeing to unconstitutional practice, Ambassador Murphy has also sent a message that the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH actually has no say in anything. And that is not how one becomes a stable democracy.

With this position, Ambassador Murphy, in addition to undermining the BiH Constitution, simultaneously negates "Murphy's Law," which states that if something can go wrong, it will.

There is too much at stake to agree to the game of Ambassador Murphy and the players for whom he is the coach.