The Presidential Office yesterday announced the list of 15 candidates who President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will nominate to serve as new members of the Council of Grand Justices.
The list of nominees includes three women which the government says shows the value its places on women's rights.
The president also nominated the incumbent Judicial Yuan President Weng Yueh-sheng (
Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (
"The Presidential Office will present the nominees to the Legislative Yuan in late May in order to get the legislators' consent," Chiou said.
The main mission of the Council of Grand Justices, whose term in office is eight years, is interpreting the Constitution and unifying the interpretation of laws and ordinances.
Fifteen new grand justices are scheduled to take office in October.
Only three incumbent grand justices have been nominated by Chen, including Lin Young-mou (
The three women candidates are Supreme Court judge Hsu Pi-hu (
According to constitutional ammendments passed in 2000, the Judicial Yuan shall have 15 grand justices, of which one is the president and another is the vice president of the Judicial Yuan.
The KMT-PFP alliance in the Legislative Yuan announced yesterday that it would approve only 10 of the nominees on the list, saying that the others are pro-DPP and are therefore not qualified because they cannot be impartial and objective.
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