Caucus leaders in the National Assembly yesterday spelled out their opposition to constitutional amendment proposals intended to abolish the Council of Grand Justices or limit the Council's power in interpreting the Constit-ution, just two days after they were introduced.
The proposals, which were first raised by KMT deputy Hsieh Ming-hui (謝明輝) after the Council invalidated two amendments adopted by the Assembly in September 1999, are widely considered a retaliatory measure against the grand justices.
The proposals managed to pass an Assembly review on Sunday, winning 138 and 167 votes respectively.
But the KMT, DPP, New Party and People First Party caucuses yesterday all specified that they were against the proposals, and that they would not allow them to continue.
"If the Council is to be abolished or go through any major adjustments, more in-depth discussion and research needs to be done. It is inappropriate to do it now," said Alex Tsai (
The proposed amendments would still need to go through a confirmation procedure in a plenary session on Friday, to decide whether they can go through second and third readings.
Any amendments must be endorsed by at least three-quarters of the attending deputies to pass second and third readings, and two-thirds of Assembly deputies must be attendance.
In addition to the two proposals, another issue concerning the grand justices that has been raised is whether the office of a grand justice should be permanent in nature.
In what has been criticized by some Assembly deputies as a self-serving step, the Council issued a constitutional interpretation in 1996 to equalize benefits enjoyed by both grand justices and judges.
Under this ruling, the appointment of a grand justice is permanent, and cannot be revoked unless they are convicted on a criminal charge.
The KMT and DPP caucuses, believing that the term of a grand justice should be limited, said they are open to revised proposals on the subject.
"The self-serving ruling was made because the Constitution is unspecific on the terms of grand justices," said Liu I-teh (
"The DPP caucus will not try to stop individual members from supporting the proposal [to limit the term of grand justices] as long as it is not raised in the name of the caucus," Liu said.
The KMT's Hsieh, who initiated the proposal to abolish the Council of Grand Justices, yesterday submitted an additional provision to his original proposal to limit the term of office of a grand justice.
With constitutional reform being recognized as a way to marginalize the Assembly, the marginalization proposal is the only one that has won the support of all caucuses in the Assembly: namely the KMT, DPP, New Party and even People First Party, which had previously expressed disapproval of the proposal.
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