Marine Le Pen Files Complaint Over Judge’s Comments on Her Eligibility to Run for President
Marine Le Pen, a leading potential candidate in France’s presidential election, has filed a complaint with the Superior Council of the Judiciary. The complaint concerns an interview given to Le Monde by Didier Guérin, an honorary judge of the Court of Cassation.
Le Pen’s lawyers have chosen strong words. They argue that the judge crossed legal boundaries and turned legal arguments into a tool of political struggle. In their view, the controversy raises concerns about efforts to sideline an inconvenient eurosceptic candidate who refuses to follow Brussels’ lead.
The dispute erupted after Le Monde published an interview with Guérin on October 27. In it, the judge reportedly argued that Le Pen was “ineligible for election” until the Court of Cassation delivers its ruling.
Lawyers representing the leader of the National Rally strongly rejected that interpretation. In a statement, they argued that Guérin’s claims clearly contradict the current law on the provisional enforcement of court decisions.
They were particularly angered by the fact that the judge based his position on previous rulings, including one he had issued himself while serving as president of the Court of Cassation’s Criminal Chamber.
“Mr. GUÉRIN bases his reasoning on two rulings in specific cases, one of which he himself issued while serving as president of the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation,” Le Pen’s lawyers said in a statement published on her social media page.
“Quite apart from the fact that a judge should not comment on his own ruling, this analysis violates the fundamental principle that an appeal suspends the enforcement of a decision,” they added.
The lawyers also cited Article 509 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure. They argued that, in this case, the first-instance decision is effectively set aside.
Le Pen’s Lawyers Point to Disagreement Within the Judiciary
Le Pen’s team also highlighted what it sees as a split within the judiciary. Rémy Heitz, the Prosecutor General at the Court of Cassation, has addressed the same issue. According to the lawyers’ statement, his conclusions “are entirely at odds with Mr. Guérin’s analysis.”
The lawyers also criticized a set of recommendations proposed by the judge, known as a vademecum. They described the document as a “complete distortion into the political sphere.”
According to Le Pen’s team, the recommendations outline a possible roadmap for sidelining a political rival. This could include claims that she is ineligible to run, attempts to reject her candidacy at the Constitutional Council, and even efforts to remove her from office if she wins the election.
The statement argues that such conduct would seriously violate the ordinance of December 22, 1958, which requires honorary magistrates to exercise restraint.
“Under the guise of legal considerations, this magistrate is advancing arguments that in reality serve a purely political purpose,” the lawyers concluded. They argued that the judge’s comments risk drawing the entire judiciary into political conflict.
For this reason, Le Pen’s team has asked the Superior Council of the Judiciary to remind Guérin of his professional and ethical obligations.
