The Cabinet yesterday said it would request a new vote on Constitutional Court reforms that lawmakers passed on Dec. 20, signaling further deadlock between the central government and the opposition-controlled legislature.
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday approved the request to send the changes to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) back to the legislature, Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday.
As the bill is highly controversial, the government hopes the ruling party and the opposition could re-examine the bill and reach a consensus through rational communication and negotiations under the constitutional mechanism, she said.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
Earlier yesterday, Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) cited Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) as saying that the amendments would allow the legislature to override the judiciary, setting an “unreasonable threshold” that would disrupt the operations of the court.
That could affect the public’s right to seek remedies or to resolve constitutional disputes, endangering the constitutional order, Cho added.
Also, amendments to Article 4 of the act would not help to ensure the stable operation of the Constitutional Court, as it does not set a legal time limit for the legislature to approve the nomination of grand justices by the president, Cho said.
A constitutional interpretation would be sought if the legislature votes down the motion to reconsider the bill, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said.
The political impasse over the issue, created by a combination of court vacancies and reforms sought by the legislature, is likely to continue.
The legislation would require at least 10 justices on the court — which normally has 15 members — to hear a case, and at least nine justices to back any unconstitutional ruling. Current rules do not specify a minimum number of justices required to hear a case. Instead, they simply mandate the presence of at least two-thirds of all sitting justices, with a ruling determined by a simple majority vote.
While the government has asked the legislature to hold a new vote on the bill, it is unlikely to yield a different result.
The opposition-backed bill creates problems, as the eight-year terms of seven of the Constitutional Court’s 15 judges ended on Oct. 31 last year.
With only eight justices left, the court does not have the number required by the bill to hear cases.
Lai put forward seven nominees to fill the vacancies, but all of them were rejected by the legislature on Tuesday last week, with opposition parties claiming they were too partisan.
Lai has not yet sought another vote on the nominees or named new candidates.
Minister Without Portfolio Lin Ming-hsin (林明昕) also signaled support for a court challenge at a news briefing yesterday, saying that the reforms would contravene the constitutionally enshrined separation and balance of powers between the five branches of government.
Taking that road risks setting off a potential crisis, as the Constitutional Court would be asked to rule on legislation directly relating to its own powers, with only eight judges available to hear them.
However, under Article 43 of the act, the court can issue a preliminary injunction against a law with a quorum of two-thirds of incumbent justices and a majority voting in support of the injunction.
Alternatively, the government could hold negotiations with the legislature to select seven Constitutional Court nominees who are acceptable to both sides.
If it did so, the government could still seek an injunction and constitutional interpretation for the reforms after the new justices are seated.
Meanwhile, Lee said the Cabinet had not received any official notice of two other sets of controversial amendments to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) that were also approved by opposition lawmakers last month.
Those amendments would tighten requirements for petitions to recall elected officials and reallocate more funding from the central government to local governments.
Lee said if the amendments are sent to the Executive Yuan on the last working day before the Lunar New Year, the Executive Yuan would have until Feb. 2 to request that the legislature reconsider the bills.
If the Executive Yuan is to make a request during the Lunar New Year, the legislature would have to handle it within 15 days, she said, adding that the motion would be considered passed otherwise.
If the lawmakers vote down the motion, the Executive Yuan would discuss further actions, Lin said.
The president would have 10 days to promulgate the law, which would not come into effect immediately after the legislature votes down the motion, Lin added.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
RSS