Verdict: No! The Supreme Court stay order doesn't mean all legal proceedings against Tweah and others are stopped.
Full Text: Shine Liberia, an online blog with 227 thousand followers posted on Thursday, March 6, 2025, claiming that the Supreme Court has halted all legal proceedings against Tweah and other former government officials in the ongoing high-profile corruption cases at Criminal Court “C.”
The blog also claimed that said order was issued in response to a writ of prohibition filed by the defense legal counsels to halt all proceedings pending the outcome of a scheduled conference slated for March 10, 2025.
The Liberian Supreme Court is the final arbiter of justice in the country, and its decisions are binding.
For months now, some former officials, including Samuel Tweah, former finance minister, have been trying to prove their innocence since being dragged to court by the Boakai administration through the Ministry of Justice, an institution that handles all legal proceedings on behalf of the executive branch.
Tweah has filed a motion of another seeking to have the court drop charges against him since, according to him, the matter borders on the security issue.
Verification: In order to verify this claim, we review a March 6, 2025, directive issued by Justice Ceaineh D. Clinton-Johnson, Chambers-Justice of the Supreme Court, which was served on Judge Roosevelt Z. Willie by 2:15 pm.
The directive states: “By directive of the Her Honor Ceaineh D. Clinton-Johnson, Associate Justice presiding in Chambers, you are hereby cited to a conference with Her Honor on Monday, March 10, 2025, at the hour of 9:00 a.m., in connection with the above-captioned case.”
The directive did order a stay on the ongoing proceedings of the case involving former Finance Minister Tweah and others. The chamber's justice directive also cited the presiding judge to a conference scheduled for Monday, March 10, 2025, at 9:00 a.m.
What does it mean?
According to Cllr. Bobby Livingston, the writ of prohibition is a remainder process by the Supreme Court to address certain issues raised by either party from the lower court.
He said it is intended to stop further proceedings in a particular trial until the Chambers Justice entertains either a conference or hearing from both parties.
"And, if the justice is inclined, he or she may choose to issue the alternative writ of prohibition or choose to decline from issuing the writ," Cllr. Livingston asserted.
He also emphasized that the stay order does not determine the merit of the case, noting that it is only meant to correct certain decisions that were taken in the lower court.
"The stay order doesn't determine the merit of the case. It's only intended to review the decision from a lower court," he added.
Continuing, he said: "The faith of this case is determined now is predicted upon the decision of the justice in Chambers to either issue the writ and send the matter to the full bench or decline to issue the writ," he noted.
Meanwhile, Cllr. Livingston said the trial judge disbanding five prospective jurors that were selected means, when the matter is resolved by the Supreme Court, a new selection process will begin, something that may delay the proceeding.
Conclusion: Based on our findings, we conclude that the Supreme Court did issue a stay order on Tweah and others but that does not mean the case wouldn't go further. Meanwhile, the Chambers of Justice summoned the presiding judge to a conference on Monday, March 10, 2025.
