Measures adopted by the legislature to raise the thresholds for Constitutional Court rulings are to take effect tomorrow after being promulgated by President William Lai (賴清德), while the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus said it has applied for a temporary injunction and a constitutional interpretation of the changes.
Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) in a statement said that Lai had signed the amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) into law.
The amendments are to take effect tomorrow, three days after promulgation.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Kuo cited the president as saying the measures risked disrupting Constitutional Court operations, usurping the judicial authorities’ powers and undermining the principle of separation of powers between government branches.
Lai is calling for a ruling on the constitutionality of the amendments, the spokesperson added.
Asked whether the Executive Yuan would seek a constitutional interpretation, spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said it is deliberating the matter with Minister Without Portfolio Lin Min-hsin (林明昕).
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) told a news conference yesterday that a request for the court to grant a temporary injunction and review the law had been filed.
A spokesman for the court later confirmed that it had received the request.
The DPP took the action shortly after lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who together have a majority in the legislature, upheld the measures they had previously pushed through in a revote requested by the Cabinet.
However, with the new measures requiring a minimum of 10 justices to hear and rule on a case, it remains unclear whether the Constitutional Court, which normally has 15 justices, but currently has only eight, can review such a case.
Lai had nominated seven candidates to replace those whose eight-year terms ended on Oct. 31 last year, but all were rejected by the legislature.
The president has yet to select new nominees.
According to another new measure, a ruling declaring an existing legal provision unconstitutional must be backed by at least nine justices.
The amendments replaced previous rules that only mandated the presence of at least two-thirds of all sitting justices, with a ruling determined by a simple majority vote.
The amendments have been criticized by the DPP and civic groups as an attempt by the opposition to immobilize the court, which primarily handles petitions from the public, but also intervenes in disputes among top government bodies.
KMT and TPP lawmakers have defended the revisions, saying they would ensure more rigorous reviews by the court and that a minimum attendance requirement would prevent future cases from being decided by only a handful of justices.
The KMT yesterday said that Lai’s promulgation of the law and application for a constitutional interpretation was the worst example of going against public opinion.
Abiding by the law is the basic duty of the government, the KMT said, adding that the DPP should not act like a “crybaby” and should understand the way things work in a minority government.
Additional reporting by Chen Yun
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS