Opposition lawmakers yesterday voted against the Executive Yuan’s request to reconsider amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法), an expected outcome that thwarted the executive branch’s bid to overturn the bill.
In a revote yesterday, lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who together form a majority in the legislature, again endorsed the new measures they pushed through last month.
The vote in the 113-seat legislature was 62-51 along partisan lines, with two independents joining the opposition parties.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The amendments mandate that a minimum of 10 Constitutional Court justices hear and rule on a case, and require that a ruling of unconstitutionality be supported by at least nine justices.
Currently, the Constitutional Court does not set a quorum for reviewing cases and allows rulings to be made by a simple majority vote.
Lawmakers yesterday debated the veto without inviting Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) to the proceedings before holding an open ballot to decide if it was to be overridden.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus secretary-general Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) said that Taiwan must have a functioning Constitutional Court to preserve the public’s right to protect themselves through legal remedies.
The amendments would require the Constitutional Court to have a quorum of 10 judges to hear a case and a supermajority of nine to rule against the constitutionality of a law or measure, Tsai said.
That would render the court virtually useless and contravene the powers the Constitution invested in the judiciary, he added.
KMT Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said that the DPP should stop opposing the amendments because a KMT-commissioned poll showed 56.7 percent of respondents were in favor of the changes.
TPP Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said that a few Constitutional Court judges should not be allowed to decide the nation’s future and that the legislature was well within its rights to change the quorum.
In response to the vote outcome, Cabinet spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said later yesterday that the Executive Yuan would consider its next steps toward safeguarding the constitutional order after the legislature completes its vote on overriding the veto.
DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said that her caucus is prepared to fight the amendments by measures up to and including asking the Constitutional Court to rule on their constitutionality.
Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said that President William Lai (賴清德) respects the decisions of the Executive Yuan and the DPP caucus, and would consider every legal recourse in defense of the nation’s democratic constitutional order.
The court has only eight justices — all appointed by the DPP — after seven completed their terms in October last year.
How any legal battle involving the Constitutional Court could proceed remains unclear.
Under normal procedures, the amendments would have to take effect — which would require them to be signed into law by the president — before the Constitutional Court could rule on their constitutionality.
However, if they have taken effect, the eight justices would not meet the threshold set and could not rule on the case.
The government could try again to add justices to the court.
Lai previously nominated seven candidates to replace the seven members whose terms ended on Oct. 31 last year, but all of them were rejected by the legislature last month.
Lai has yet to name new nominees.
Additional reporting by AFP, Chung Li-hua and Su Yung-yao
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
RSS