“This confirms what people already think they know, that they’re going all out to stop [Thaksin]. I don’t think that it changes anything at all,” Montlake quoted Michael Montesano, a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
“This verdict confirms the continuing role of the judiciary in resolving political crises in the country,” IPS quoted Thanet Aphornsuvan, a historian at Thammasat University. “The Supreme Court is being increasingly asked to play an important role, so I was not surprised by the verdict.”
Thanet once described this trend as a “judicial revolution.”
British academic Duncan McCargo said in an op-ed in The Independent, London, the next day: “Judicialisation of politics has been the major response of the royalist elite to the Thaksin ‘threat’. Constant recourse to the courts has undermined state legitimacy and infuriated Thaksin’s supporters.

“Judges have abolished a number of Thaksin-aligned political parties, banned most senior Thaksinite politicians from public life for five-year terms, and even ousted prime minister Samak Sundaravej for illegally hosting a television cookery show.”

Asia Times said: “The court-ordered seizure of Thaksin’s assets is in line with the gathering trend towards the ‘judicialization’ of Thai politics, ……where high courts and judges assume the role the monarchy has traditionally played in mediating the country’s complex and often heated political disputes.”
Bangkok Pundit preferred the term “judiocracy”. He viewed the powers that have been vested in the unelected judicial branch as too broad. “They are unaccountable,” he said. The judges “simply say we should trust them. However, this trust does not come with a right to open criticism as the judiciary is quick to make allegations of contempt. The judiciary can then jail and/or fine, and in essence, they act as judge, jury, and executioner. Yet at the same time this has not stopped the judiciary from making public comments criticizing politicians and the political system,” added Bangkok Pundit.
“What Thai people feel at the moment is that justice in this society is fading away,” said General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, chairman of the pro-Thaksin Pheua Thai Party.