The Legislative Yuan voted yesterday to forward President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) nomination of four Council of Grand Justices nominees to a plenary session review, a process which has been criticized by the judiciary watchdog as being “severely flawed.”
Referring Chen Be-yue (陳碧玉), Huang Hsi-chun (黃璽君), Lo Chang-fa (羅昌發) and Tang Te-tsung (湯德宗) to a plenary session review is part of the procedure before a confirmation vote is scheduled.
Holding about a third of the legislative seats, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) failed to block the move.
Among the four nominees, Tang was nominated to replace Supreme Court Justice Shao Yen-ling (邵燕玲), who declined Ma’s nomination after a media uproar over her role in a controversial ruling in a child molestation case. Chen has also been criticized for holding US permanent residency during her stint as a Supreme Court judge, while Lo also held permanent residency in Canada before the nomination.
According to the Nationality Act (國籍法), holders of public office are not permitted to have dual citizenship. However, neither Chen nor Lo have such status now.
The DPP legislators yesterday staged a demonstration inside the legislative chamber demanding that the nominations be returned to the president and that he should present a new list of nominees.
“The nomination process and the list have incurred so many controversies, which would compromise the nominees’ credibility as grand justices even if they were confirmed,” DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) told the DPP to stop delaying the confirmation process.
Additional reporting by CNA
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