“The type of president we have defines the type of judge he nominates. Under his values, he thinks nothing of the fact that [Chen Be-yue] once held a US green card,” DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said. “She’s unsuitable as a nominee.”
Standing by its nomination of Chen however, the Presidential Office yesterday argued that Chen had given up her US permanent residency.
Presidential Office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) quoted Ma as saying that the nomination of Chen was a “proper decision” because she had given up her US residency and did not cover up the truth.
Another grand justice nominee, Lo Chang-fa (羅昌發), who was also reported by media yesterday as having held permanent residency from Canada, also gave up the residency before the nomination, Lo said.
NO VIOLATION
“Both nominees did not violate any laws and clearly stated the situation in the nomination reference … It’s not fair to accuse her of having moral flaws,” he said.
The nomination task force gave great reviews of Chen and the other three nominees and the president hoped the public would focus on the overall performance of the nominees, Lo added.
Under Taiwan’s judicial system, grand justices are authorized to interpret the Constitution and unify the interpretation of laws and ordinances.
TERM TIMES
The terms of four of the 15 incumbent Constitutional Court Grand Justices — Hsu Pi-hu (徐璧湖) Lin Tzu-yi (林子儀), Hsu Tzong-li (許宗力) and Hsu Yu-hsiu (許玉秀) —will end on Sept. 30.
According to the Additional Articles of the Constitution, the president should nominate and appoint, with the consent of the Legislative Yuan, four new justices to fill the posts.
NOMINATIONS
Aiming to have the new justices take the bench on Oct. 1 as required by law, Ma has previously said that he hopes the legislature will deal with nominations before its summer recess at the end of May.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH AND CNA
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