Sources: La República (Santo Domingo) and Dominican Republic public holidays. The Supreme Court of the Dominican Republic (Suprema Corte de Justicia - SCJ), in plenary session, has declared as un-constitutional, articles 1-2-4 of the law 139-97, which move the August 16 Restoration Day public holiday to the following Monday, whenever August 16 falls on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.The court, however, only judged as un-constitutional the moving of the August 16 public holiday, meaning that the other holidays, presently covered by law 139-97 will continue to be moved to a Monday, whenever their reference date falls on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.
The change in the calculation rules of the August 16 public holiday takes effect immediately (the SCJ being the final recourse), but as August 16 will fall on a Saturday in 2008, a Sunday in 2009 and a Monday in 2010, the ruling will have a concrete effect, for the first time, in 2011.
The recourse in front of the SCJ had been brought forth by the Dominican Historical Academy (Academia de la Historia Dominicana) which considered that moving the dates of public holidays that commemorate historical events is un-patriotic (a feeling shared by many, throughout Latin America).
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