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Judiciary nominees face tough series of questions

While avoiding political issues when questioned by lawmakers in his capacity as candidate for president of the Judicial Yuan yesterday, Grand Justice Lai Ying-jaw (賴英照) vowed to defend judicial independence from political interference if his nomination were accepted.

The legislature held a question-and-answer session yesterday to review Lai's nomination as well as that of Hsieh Tsai-chuan (謝在全), the candidate for the deputy chair at the Judicial Yuan.

Pan-blue lawmakers focused their questions on recent political issues stemming from the name-change controversy over the government's proposal for UN membership under the name "Taiwan" rather than "Republic of China [ROC]."

KMT Legislator Kao Su-po (高思博) asked Lai to give his opinion on the matter.

"The country's name stipulated in the Constitution is ROC. Only when we go through the necessary procedure of amending the Constitution can it be changed," Lai said.

But Lai refused to comment on whether it was constitutional to alter the symbols of the country by means of amending the Constitution, saying that the Council of Grand Justice had never delivered an interpretation on the matter.

Asked by People First Party Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) whether the country was qualified to take the UN's rejection of the nation's membership bid to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Lai responded by saying that "we all know the answer."

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator William Lai (賴清德) asked the two nominees to define the country's territory, which he said had ramifications for the constitutionality of the UN application.

"We don't have a specific definition of the country's territory, as the Constitution defines the ROC territory as `its existing national boundaries,'" Lai Ying-jaw said, refusing to say whether China was included in that definition.

William Lai said he was not satisfied with the two nominees' responses after Lai Ying-jaw said that highly political issues were outside the range of constitutional interpretation.

"How could you be able to interpret related constitutional disputes about sovereign-related issues if you don't have the definitions in mind?" William Lai asked.

Also of concern to the pan-blue lawmakers was the demarcation between politics and the judiciary following President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) recent statement that 70 percent to 80 percent of judiciary members harbored pan-blue sentiment.

Using former US president Harry Truman's famous "The buck stops here," Lai Ying-jaw told lawmakers he would "take necessary action" to resist political pressure.

Answering a question by DPP Legislator Wang Shih-cheng (王世堅) on how to address public discontent with a large number of verdicts, Lai Ying-jaw said the Judicial Yuan was considering the possibility of setting up a jury system.

Lai Ying-jaw vowed to continue pushing for judicial reform and shorten the litigation period and improve the quality of verdicts.

As for the dispute over whether judicial personnel should be banned from joining political parties, Lai Ying-jaw said he believed "party registration is one thing and party affiliation is another," adding they would be asked to renounce party membership if an amendment to the Judge Law (法官法) passed the legislature.

A confirmation vote on the two nominees is scheduled for next Thursday.
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