Judicial Yuan officials yesterday dismissed accusations made by National Assembly deputies that the grand justices made "self-serving" interpretations of the Constitution.
They also expressed concern about the Assembly's proposal to abolish the Council of Grand Justices, warning that the passage of such an amendment would harm Taiwan's constitutional system.
The same Assembly deputies, whose proposal to abolish the Council passed committee review on Sunday, yesterday introduced another proposed amendment stating that the Council should remain in place, but that their life-long stipend guarantees should be cancelled.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Speaking at a news conference yesterday, Judicial Yuan president Weng Yueh-sheng (
A group of Assembly deputies, including the party whips of the KMT and DPP, charged the Council of Grand Justices of "self-fattening" by making legal interpretations that entitled themselves to salaries for life, despite a system of limited terms for grand justices.
Such stipend privileges for grand justices were added into the organizational rules of the Judicial Yuan in 1992. The grand justices' stipend privileges were therefore passed by the legislature, not the Council itself, Weng said.
"No single one out of over 500 interpretations issued by the Council has ever interpreted the privileges or security of the grand justices. As for Interpretation No.396, cited by the Assembly deputies ? it has nothing to do with self-fattening," Weng said.
"[Grand justices' privileges] are a matter of governmental policy, not the intentions of the Council," Weng said. "In developed countries, the only fears over judicial officials' security is whether it is sufficient. The better the security, the more officials can perform their duties without misgivings or interference."
He also denied that the Council had pressured the legislature into making the law.
"It's impossible. How could the Council possibly have had the power to impose pressure on the legislature?" Weng said.
However, Weng's words were weighed against speculation by some that the Judicial Yuan was fighting back against the National Assembly.
"We are not criticizing [the Assembly deputies], only considering that such Constitutional amendments need to be clarified," he said.
Weng stressed that the current legal system was revisable, but that any reform requires a comprehensive plan. The current judicial system is not able to undertake the task of interpreting the Constitution, he said, and therefore the abolishment of the Council of Grand Justices would bring about a legal crisis and harm the public interest.
Grand Justice Chen Chi-nan (
"Should we accept such personal attacks?"Chen said.
On Sunday, Assembly deputies from the KMT and DPP reached a consensus to remove the life stipend guarantees of the grand justices, rather than to abolish the Council altogether as they had originally planned. In fact, the passage of the amendment to abolish the Council during Sunday's committee review session was only been meant to express deputies' discontent with the grand justices and is unlikely to pass second and third readings.
Many deputies were furious after the Council ruled in March that a set of amendments passed last year -- including one that extended the current Assembly's term by two years -- was invalid because it broke procedural rules.
Alex Tsai (
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
PETITIONS: A Democratic Progressive Party official quoted President William Lai as saying that civil society groups are organizing the recall drives at the grassroots level Some civil society groups yesterday announced that they have collected enough signatures to pass the first-stage threshold to initiate a recall vote against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators in 18 constituencies nationwide, saying that they would submit the signatures to the Central Election Commission (CEC) today. They also said that they expected to pass the threshold in eight more constituencies in the coming days, meaning the number of KMT legislators facing a recall vote could reach 26. The groups set up stations to collect signatures at local marketplaces and busy commercial districts. The legislators their petition drives target include Fu
RSS