There's a certain paradox in French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti's situation. On Wednesday, November 29, he was cleared of charges of conflicts of interest by the French Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR). He was accused of having used his position as minister to settle scores with magistrates with whom he had had run-ins when he was a lawyer. Nevertheless, this creates a highly complicated situation: After three years of legal proceedings – culminating in two weeks of hearings – this verdict has widened the divide between the justice minister and part of the judicial establishment, a rift that seems difficult to overcome.
The acquittal is undoubtedly a legal and political victory for the justice minister, who will remain in office. Yet it will leave a bitter taste in the mouths of many. The man nicknamed "Acquitator" when he was a lawyer had to confront a number of magistrates and the profession's main unions over the course of his trial. Rémy Heitz, one of France's most senior magistrates, newly appointed as the highest-ranking prosecutor in France, even sought a one-year suspended prison sentence for Dupond-Moretti – who is his superior – in an unprecedented case.
It would be difficult to pretend that nothing had happened in that courtroom and just go back to business as usual. Should the prosecution decide to lodge an appeal – in which case it would be examined by a plenary session of the Cour de Cassation (France's highest court) – the situation could even turn into an outright war of attrition between the minister and the magistrates of this top jurisdiction, with proceedings dragging on and on, fuelling accusations of a hypothetical "government of judges."
Can the legacy of this unprecedented trial be overcome? Sources at the Justice Ministry pretend to be surprised by the question. They assure Le Monde that things will remain as they were before and that the minister will continue to work on the various ongoing issues (such as the establishment of domestic violence units in January 2024, the constitutionalization of abortion or a new status for those criminals who turn state's evidence). What this implies is that there will be no attempt to reach out to magistrates' unions for a fresh start. "Business as usual".
Indeed, the unions are feeling the pinch. The Union syndicale des magistrats (USM, the majority union) and the Syndicat de la magistrature (left-wing minority) were at the forefront of these proceedings before the CJR, having lodged a complaint against the minister. They have now suffered a major defeat, with some of their credibility at stake. Since the July 2020 appointment of Dupond-Moretti, the mutual hostility between him and the organizations representing magistrates has come to the fore. The USM president at the time, Céline Parisot, even described the appointment as a "declaration of war."
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