More than 30 opposition lawmakers have endorsed a bill to amend the qualification requirements for the president and vice president of the Judicial Yuan. The move is a clear indication that no one is ready to give up trying to mix politics with justice and the law. Unfortunately, this habit is extremely hazardous to the progress of judicial reform.
According to the opposition bill, the top two officials in the Judicial Yuan could not be older than 65 years of age and must have sat on the Council of Grand Justices for at least three years. Taken at face value, neither condition would appear to be unreasonable. However, it just so happens that such requirements, if enacted, would disqualify two of the three top candidates for these offices.
Judicial Yuan President Weng Yueh-sheng (翁岳生) is 71. He was one of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) law professors and has a very close personal relationship with Chen. Grand Justice Lai In-jaw's (
Passage of the bill would virtually guarantee the third candidate -- Judicial Yuan Vice President Cheng Chung-Mo (
Word on the street has it that Cheng hasn't been on good terms with Weng. Conspiracy theorists are also making much of the fact that the KMT lawmaker who spearheaded the bill reportedly sought a job in the Judicial Yuan in the past -- unsuccessfully, of course.
There is another bill to amend the Organic Law of the Judicial Yuan that has been languishing before the Legislative Yuan for quite a while. This bill was submitted by the Judicial Yuan and based entirely on the conclusions reached by the National Judicial Reform Conference in 1999 -- a conference spearheaded by the then KMT government. This bill does not have an age limit or minimum Council of Grand Justices tenure requirement. It is ironic that KMT lawmakers have now submitted a bill that contradicts the result of the 1999 conference their party pushed for. The move appears to be another case of opposing a the DPP government just for the sake of stirring up trouble.
In addition, such strict requirements for the judiciary's top jobs is almost unheard of. The proposed age cap is a joke. In fact, in more advanced countries, this might be seen as a case of age discrimination. There is no age cap for the nation's president or vice president or for heads of the four other branches of government. If an identical age cap were imposed on the presidency and vice presidency, neither KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
At a time when the pan-blue camp is being jeered for practicing "old men politics," it is truly touching to see some of their own lawmakers standing up to prove people wrong by ensuring that younger folks will get a crack at at least one top job.
Nevertheless, passage of the bill would impose restrictions on the right of the president to make appointments.
It also would taint the nation's top judicial jobs with a political stain that would be hard to erase. The bill should not be passed.
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