Lawyers representing four parties that filed for an injunction and a constitutional interpretation of the amendments expanding the legislature’s powers yesterday urged the Constitutional Court to approve the injunction, saying the changes would damage the constitutional order.
The court began preliminary hearings on the injunction.
The Legislative Yuan passed the amendments on May 28 and promulgated them on June 26. It was followed by a historic first in which the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) legislative caucus, the Executive Yuan, President William Lai (賴清德) and the Control Yuan all filed for a ruling on their constitutionality.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Constitutional Court Chief Justice Hsu Tzong-li (許宗力) said that all applications have been uploaded onto the Internet as per regulations, and the court is starting the preliminary processes on hearing the case.
The Presidential Office’s legal representative, Hong Wei-sheng (洪偉勝), expressed his approval of the Constitutional Court’s transparency and said accusations over its procedures are baseless.
Hung’s remarks referred to Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-chang’s (黃國昌) comments asking for Hsu to clarify the regulations as stipulated under the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) and why the Legislative Yuan had not received any notifications.
Huang also asked whether the preliminary hearings were based on Article 43 the act or were they preliminary hearings for the oral defense.
The amendments to are flawed, contravening the Constitution, disrupting the separation of powers, undermining responsible politics and throwing government bodies into disarray, Hong said.
The amendments would irreparably damage the basic tenets of the Constitution, and there was an urgent need for an injunction, he said.
Lee Chuan-he (李荃和), the Executive Yuan’s legal representative, said the amendments placed additional restrictions on candidates for a government office and that the legislature could stall appointments made it urgent to impose an injunction against them.
Chen Peng-kuang (陳鵬光), the DPP’s legal representative, said the amendments would hinder the independent operation of the Judicial Yuan, the Control Yuan and the Executive Yuan.
The Control Yuan’s legal representative, Lee Yuan-te (李元德), said the Control Yuan had no other recourse other than the Constitutional Court, as the president’s powers to mediate between government branches were limited to “political disputes.”
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