Escudero and the midnight chief justice

Lawyer Francis “Chiz” Escudero, the new Senate president, may find it hard to live down his role in the appointment of a midnight chief justice in 2010 – a turbulent period in the annals of the judiciary that further politicized the Supreme Court.

Let’s look back at history, courtesy of the book Hour Before Dawn: The Fall and Uncertain Rise of the Philippine Supreme Court.

Then-chief justice Reynato Puno was scheduled to retire on May 17, 2010, a day that fell within the election period.