Trivial procedure

After much speculation and hand-wringing, Thailand’s Constitutional Court ruled on the first of two campaign finance charges against the Democrat Party. According to the Bangkok Post, the justices dismissed the case because the prosecution had not filed its case within the proper timeframe. Given the gravity of the case and its political importance, a decision on such narrow procedural grounds is surprising, to say the least. Furthermore, if the prosecution had simply passed the statute of limitations, why even hear the case at all? A more cynical interpretation of the decision might suggest that the justices wanted to avoid any decision on the merits or discussion of the alleged violations. I don’t yet have a copy of the case (if any readers do, please let me know), so I can’t say whether anything else of import was discussed. I can predict that Red Shirts will almost certainly view the Constitutional Court’s decision as yet another example of judicial double standards.