Recent amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) have the potential to do the most damage to the Constitution of any legislative effort, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference yesterday.
The legislature is scheduled to vote today on whether to reconsider the amendments after the Executive Yuan last week submitted a formal request to the Legislative Yuan to reconsider the bill, which passed its third reading on Dec. 20.
Calling the bill a political maneuver, Cho said that the amendments have the potential to paralyze the Constitutional Court, undermine the Constitution and deprive Taiwanese of their right to seek electoral redress.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
Separately, 90 legal experts issued a joint statement stating that the amendments undermine the separation of powers outlined in the Constitution and hinder the ability of the public to seek redress when their rights are infringed.
The experts expressed concern regarding the future of Taiwan’s constitutional democracy and called for lawmakers to return the law to what it was.
The amendments stipulate that at least 10 grand justices be present to hear a case, while nine would be needed to back a ruling of unconstitutionality.
The Constitutional Court has 15 justices.
The previous regulations did not stipulate a minimum number of justices required to hear a case, requiring instead at least two-thirds of the justices, with rulings determined by a majority vote.
The number of justices can fluctuate due to terms expiring or other events and the time it takes to replace them.
The court has eight justices after seven completed their terms on Oct. 31 last year.
Opposition lawmakers rejected President William Lai’s (賴清德) nominees, meaning the court cannot hear cases or weigh in on constitutional matters.
The amendments addressed shortcomings and re-established the Constitution’s democratic ideals, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday, adding that the public has lost confidence in the court as the protector of the Constitution.
The two-thirds majority threshold is in line with other countries, the KMT said.
Lai should be open to suggestions from opposition lawmakers and nominate justices who are qualified to serve on the court, rather than people who are loyal to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), it said.
Public support for the amendments was 56.7 percent, compared with 30.6 percent who oppose them, the KMT said, citing a survey.
Most DPP voters are also in favor of the new rules, it said.
The Constitutional Court is not meant to be a political tool for those in power, it added.
If the vote to reconsider the amendments fails, there is still some room for discussion on how to interpret the amendments, Minister Without Portfolio Lin Ming-hsin (林明昕) said.
A judicial remedy known as “preventive relief” — which would provide a legal tool to protect people’s rights — could be proposed, but it would be up to the grand justices to decide whether it would be implemented, he said.
The new bill would paralyze the judicial system, DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) told a separate news conference, asking why the KMT passed the amendments without discussion.
Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) failed to maintain neutrality in the debate by allowing the KMT to proceed without a discussion, Wu said.
The legislative and executive branches of government should be responsible and engage in dialogue, she added.
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
TRIP TO TAIWAN: The resumption of group tours from China should be discussed between the two agencies tasked with handling cross-strait tourism, the MAC said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday reassured China-based businesspeople that he would follow former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) cross-strait policy to facilitate healthy and orderly exchanges with Beijing and build a resilient economy. “As president, I have three missions. First, I will follow president Tsai’s ‘four commitments’ to ensure that the country continues to exist and survive,” Lai told participants at a Lunar New Year event in Taipei hosted by the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF). Lai said his second mission is to uphold the “four pillars of peace” by bolstering national defense, developing a growing and resilient economy, building partnerships with
‘INVESTMENT’: Rubio and Arevalo said they discussed the value of democracy, and Rubio thanked the president for Guatemala’s strong diplomatic relationship with Taiwan Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guatemala City on Wednesday where they signed a deal for Guatemala to accept migrants deported from the US, while Rubio commended Guatemala for its support for Taiwan and said the US would do all it can to facilitate greater Taiwanese investment in Guatemala. Under the migrant agreement announced by Arevalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. It is the second deportation deal that Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Arevalo said his
RSS