A dispute is intensifying over the legality of the Executive Yuan's decision not to put into effect the budget for the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (
The current Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, William Rehnquist, once said that there is no legal basis or precedent for the president (or an agency in the executive branch) to refuse implementation of budgets passed by Congress. The implementation of budgets is within the remit of the executive branch, and so is the enforcement of laws. To say that the executive branch should enforce laws but can arbitrarily refuse to implement budgets amounts to sophistry. In the history of the US Constitution, there have been a few cases of such refusals or delays by the executive branch. President Thomas Jefferson once delayed implementation of a budget on grounds of "unpredictable issues" (不可預見情事). President Richard Nixon also stalled implementation of a budget he disagreed with but could not veto. Both presidents' attempts failed.
In 1838, the US Supreme Court set a precedent against President Andrew Jackson by issuing a compulsory order (
In 1974, the US Congress passed the law for budget retainment and exercise (
In fact, according to Interpretation No. 391 of Taiwan's Council of Grand Justices (
According to Article 62 of the Constitution, moreover, "The Legislative Yuan shall be the highest legislative organ of the State. It shall exercise legislative power (
Taiwan's government officials have recently argued that according to Article 57 and Additional Article 3, "If the Executive Yuan deems a resolution on a bill passed by the Legislative Yuan difficult of execution, it may request the Legislative Yuan to reconsider (覆議) the said solution." In other words, a bill must be exercised unless the legislators can reconsider it.
The passed budgetary bill of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, however, has already been "reconsidered" by the legislators, who decided to uphold the original resolution several years ago. That is to say that the budget plan has been confirmed by the Constitution and must be exercised. If the Executive Yuan still insists on refusing or delaying the budget plan, its wrongdoing is just like a nuclear strike on the Constitutional system, one which the people of Taiwan shouldn't tolerate.
Lin Shih-tsung is a professor of law at Soochow University.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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