Ecuador's Congress was set for a special session on Sunday to resolve a crisis over the country's Supreme Court while thousands of protesters in the capital called for the president's resignation. The strife over the Andean country's high court began in December when lawmakers loyal to President Lucio Gutierrez fired the 31 members of the Supreme Court and installed judges allied with the government. Public outcry was so strong that on Friday the president fired the court again and called a short-lived state of emergency in capital city of Quito. Pressure is on Congress to come up with a mechanism for choosing independent judges. The opposition and the government accuse each other of politicizing the Supreme Court to their own advantage. Such manipulation has stained Ecuador's judicial system for years, independent analysts say. The last Supreme Court was appointed by a short-lived pro-government congressional majority. The president accused the earlier court of being biased against him. --More 2217 Local Time 1917 GMT
