Judicial watchdog groups yesterday panned the nomination process for the Council of Grand Justices as “severely flawed” and not rigorous enough, calling on the four grand justice candidates to decline their nominations.
The nominees — 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) — were nominated by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) late last month to replace the four incumbent grand justices, whose terms are due to expire at the end of September.
Following the sudden change of grand justice nominee Supreme Court Judge Shao Yen-ling (邵燕玲), who declined Ma’s nomination after a media uproar over her role in a controversial child molestation ruling, Chen also found herself at the center of controversy.
Chen, head of the Judicial Personnel Study Center, once held a US green card during her stint as a Supreme Court judge. Lo, a chair professor at National Taiwan University, at one time had permanent residency in Canada.
“The nominations have betrayed the lack of seriousness that Ma has shown toward the judicial system and judicial reform,” said Liu Ching-yi (劉靜怡), an associate professor of law at National Taiwan University that is a part of the non-profit Taiwan Democracy Watch.
An umbrella organization of seven judicial groups, including the Taiwan Bar Association, has said that it would boycott offering further views on the nominations in a sign of protest.
Chiu Hei-yuan (瞿海源), a research fellow at Academia Sinica that spoke for the umbrella group, said that this would be the first year since 2003 that judicial watchdogs have refused to issue an opinion on the Grand Justice nominations.
“This boycott represents our opinion on the current candidates,” he said, adding that Ma needed to “seriously consider” reopening the entire nomination process.
“It will return some of the respect to the Grand Justice position,” he said.
The list of the four grand justices nominees was sent to the legislature on Wednesday for approval.
A cross-party negotiation initially slated to take place yestersday to discuss the review procedures has been postponed to Monday.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
UNKNOWN TRAJECTORY: The storm could move in four possible directions, with the fourth option considered the most threatening to Taiwan, meteorologist Lin De-en said A soon-to-be-formed tropical storm east of the Philippines could begin affecting Taiwan on Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm, to be named Fung-wong (鳳凰), is forecast to approach Taiwan on Tuesday next week and could begin affecting the weather in Taiwan on Wednesday, CWA forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) said, adding that its impact might be amplified by the combined effect with the northeast monsoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the system’s center was 2,800km southeast of Oluanbi (鵝鑾鼻). It was moving northwest at 18kph. Meteorologist Lin De-en (林得恩) on Facebook yesterday wrote that the would-be storm is surrounded by
RSS