Amendments seeking to raise the threshold for passing a constitutional interpretation passed directly to the second reading today without any objections.
The changes to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) would require a two-thirds majority to pass a ruling.
Current law stipulates a simple majority of the 15-member Constitutional Court for a ruling to pass.
Photo: CNA
Another amendment proposed in the previous session by Weng would change the court’s quorum from two-thirds of presently incumbent justices to two-thirds of the full court.
With seven justices set to retire at the end of next month, the eight remaining judges would be short of the 10-member quorum stipulated by the amendment.
Critics have raised concern that the opposition could refuse to approve new appointments, effectively paralyzing the court as it is set to rule on controversial bills passed with the opposition parties’ majority.
The KMT and Taiwan People’s Party say the changes are necessary to prevent a few judges from having an outsized impact on the people’s lives.
The push also comes a week after a simple majority of a 12-member bench ruled to uphold the death penalty, but limited its application to only the most extreme cases.
Three justices had recused themselves for having previously represented death-row inmates.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
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