Former People's National Movement (PNM) attorney general John Jeremie who was a hair's breath away from being be appointed a judge of the Court of Appeal by the the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC) has withdrawn from the process.

On May 12, Newsday reported that Jeremie was one of two people who were shortlisted to be appointed by the JLSC – comprising chairman Chief Justice Ivor Archie, chairman of the Public Service Commission Winston Rudder, attorney Elton Prescott, SC, Justice of Appeal Charmaine Pemberton and Dr Albert Persaud.

Investigators from the Special Branch were appointed to vet the incoming judge, the final step in the process before being appointed.

Newsday has learned Justice Eleanor Joye Donaldson-Honeywell, a former solicitor general and daughter of former PNM vice chairman John Donaldson, has been moved up the merit list and will likely join Justice Geoffrey Henderson as the two new judges of the Court of Appeal. Donaldson-Honeywell was appointed a judge in 2015 after quitting her job as solicitor general, the head of the State's civil law department.

Henderson, a former Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), served for eight years as a judge of the International Criminal Court, at the Hague, in the Netherlands, but maintained his seniority in the Judiciary while working abroad.

The appointments were scheduled to be made by the end of May but after the publication of the story, the chorus of objections grew stronger with several judges approaching Archie directly to voice their concerns.

Contacted via WhatsApp, Jeremie did not respond to a query as to whether he had withdrawn from the process to be appointed a judge of the appeal court nor the reason.

Newsday confirmed that at least four senior appeal court judges threatened to resign if Jeremie had been appointed and others provided evidence to the Chief Justice to hammer out their case.

Jeremie served as attorney general under the Patrick Manning administrations between 2003-2007 and again during 2009-2010. He is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the UWI St Augustine campus.

Prime Minister Dr Rowley, who returned from an overseas trip to Ghana and India on May 19, was appraised of the developments by Special Branch.

There was no response to questions sent to the Prime Minister and Chief Justice on the issue.

In July 2009, Rowley said in a newspaper interview, Jeremie's decision to offer his resignation to then PM Manning was the decent thing to do after the Law Association had passed a vote of no confidence against the titular head of the bar over allegations of interfering in criminal cases.

"I don't think the Prime Minister has any other choice but to accept the resignation. For the prime minister to do otherwise is to indicate that the prime minister is prepared to operate at a lower standard than Mr Jeremie and that is troublesome."

[caption id="attachment_1085764" align="alignnone" width="926"] Chief Justice Ivor Archie -[/caption]

"When Mr Jeremie was brought back into the Cabinet, I made