The changes sweeping across the Iraqi judiciary have reached long-serving Chief Justice Midhat al-Mahmoud. Despite the fact that Iraqi politicians who form the opposition to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have stated that Mahmoud was deposed in accordance with the de-Baathification Law, the Judicial Council confirmed that new legislation passed by parliament mandates that the chief justice be replaced with a new judge.
In the beginning of 2013, parliament passed the Iraqi Federal Court Act, which bans the head of the Federal Supreme Court from also being the chief justice of the Judicial Council. According to the new law, the head of the Court of Cassation is now chief justice.