Johnnie N. Lewis (April 16, 1946 – January 21, 2015) was a Liberian lawyer and politician who served as the 18thChief Justice of Liberia from 2006 to 2012. Before his appointment to the Supreme Court, he served as a circuit judge in Liberia's judicial system.
Early life
Johnnie N. Lewis was born to Roderick N. Lewis and Mary Houston-Lewis[1] in Greenville, Sinoe County, Liberia on April 16, 1946.[2] His father was a lawyer and his mother was a school teacher; he had three brothers and two sisters.[1] Lewis studied at St. Joseph's Catholic Elementary School followed by Sinoe High School.[1]
After graduating from Yale, Lewis returned to Liberia. He was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Liberia; he also became an Associate Professor at his former law school.[2] In 1975, he was appointed as Judge of the Third Judicial Circuit Court in Sinoe County by PresidentWilliam R. Tolbert, Jr., replacing his late father Roderick.[1] In 1980, the government fell in a coup, so Lewis left the judiciary and resumed his faculty position. He became the school's dean in 1984, and continued in that position until 1991.[2] In that year, he also served as a legal adviser to the interim Liberian president.[1]
In private practice, Lewis was a partner in the Lewis & Lewis Law Offices of Monrovia.[1] In one incident, his home was invaded by gunmen searching for him; though Lewis escaped, one of his nephews was killed for failing to divulge his uncle's whereabouts.[1] Lewis then spent 1993 to 2003 outside of Liberia, working mainly with the United Nations.[3] Employment with that agency led him to Bosnia and Somalia.[3] He also wrote two law textbooks: one on criminal law in Liberia and the other on wills and estates.[1]
In 2006, the Liberian Bar Association recommended Lewis for nomination by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia.[3] President Johnson-Sirleaf nominated him in February and he was confirmed by the Liberian Senate on March 2, 2006.[3] Lewis was commissioned as the new Chief Justice on March 3.[4] Upon taking office, he vowed to fight corruption that had plagued the judicial branch in the country.[5]
The Lewis court
Chief Justice Lewis fired 34 judges in Sinoe County in April 2006 after they failed to report to their assigned courts.[6] In July 2006, the car Lewis was riding in to the funeral of former justice Emmanuel Wureh hit and killed a pedestrian who was jaywalking.[7] The car was driven by a court employee and was speeding at the time of the accident in an attempt to catch up with the funeral procession.[7] An angry mob surrounded the vehicle and Lewis and the other passengers had to be rescued by the Liberian National Police.[7]
In a 3–2 decision with Lewis voting in the majority, the court declared the removal of House Speaker Edwin Snowe by the National Legislature was illegal and ordered his reinstatement.[8][9] The ruling in January 2007 also invalidated other actions of the legislature including a resolution to allow the Legislature to meet at the Unity Conference Center in Virginia while the Capitol Building in Monrovia was being remodeled.[8] This decision created a rift between some members of the legislature, President Johnson-Sirleaf, and the Supreme Court.[8] In August 2007, the court allowed a criminal prosecution for corruption against former leader Gyude Bryant to proceed in the lower courts.[10]
In October 2007, the Chief Justice accused newspapers in the country of deliberately misspelling his name and using pictures of him inappropriately.[11] He threatened to jail the editors and writers if the practice continued for contempt of court.[11] In January 2008, the court affirmed the national government's decision not to hold municipal elections due to budgetary constraints and allowed the President of Liberia to appoint mayors.[12] The court determined that once money was available, the government must hold the elections, which had not been held since 1985.[12] He resigned from the court in September 2012 citing health issues, with September 10 as his last day in office.[13]
Lewis died in Monrovia on January 21, 2015, en route to the John F. Kennedy Medical Center.[14] His funeral was held at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Monrovia on February 5. He was buried at his family cemetery in Greenville the following day.[15]
^ abMedia Foundation for West Africa. "Liberia: Chief justice threatens newspaper journalists", BBC Monitoring World Media, October 24, 2007. British Broadcasting Corporation.
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