The constitutional challenge to the recent Grand Court decision by Cayman’s Chief Justice upholding Cabinet Minister Tara Rivers’s eligibility to hold public office in the Cayman Islands will be heard on 15^th November, 2013.

The hearing will be conducted by appellate court president John Chadwick and justices Elliot D. Mottley and Anthony Campbell.

Tara Rivers, Minister of Education, Employment and Gender Affairs, who was the second elected member for West Bay in May 2013 at the General Elections, faced an objection to her eligibility to hold public office. The objection was filed by Gordon Hewitt , the husband of Velma Powery-Hewitt, who came a distant fifth and was therefore not elected.

Chief Justice Antony Smellie on August 9^th ruled in favour of Tara Rivers giving very detailed reasons for his decision.

That should have been the end of the matter as Cayman law states the decision of the chief justice cannot be appealed in regards to election issues. However, on Aug. 23^rd , Hewitt’s attorney, Steve McField, petitioned the Court of Appeal to overturn Justice Smellie’s decision, citing several “grave and serious errors” committed by the Chief Justice in his Grand Court judgment.