Opposition lawmakers on Friday pushed through amendments to raise the threshold for adjudication by the Constitutional Court, including a revision that mandates a minimum of 10 justices to hear a case.
The amendments adopted by the Legislative Yuan were partly based on a proposal by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) at the end of September, notably the measure setting the quorum for presiding over a case at 10 justices.
However, the revisions also included additional provisions put forth on the legislative floor only on Friday by the caucuses of the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), which together hold a majority of the seats in the lawmaking body.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
One such provision stipulates that a ruling of unconstitutionality by the court — which would affect existing laws — be backed by at least nine justices.
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.
The Constitutional Court normally has 15 justices, but currently only has eight because the eight-year terms of seven of the justices ended on Oct. 31.
President William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nominated new justices to replace them, but confirmation hearings were stalled until Dec. 2 by KMT and TPP lawmakers, who have argued that Lai’s picks were highly partisan, including the campaign director of Lai’s presidential campaign, Yao Li-ming (姚立明), as deputy head of the Judicial Yuan.
Lawmakers are scheduled to vote on the seven nominees on Tuesday and unless they approve at least two of them, the amendments would in effect immobilize the current eight-member court.
With only eight justices, the Constitutional Court has its lowest number of justices since the introduction of judicial interpretation in 1947.
Another new measure passed on Friday states that if the number of sitting justices on the court falls below 15 due to mandatory retirement, resignation or death, the president must nominate replacements within two months.
The DPP and some civil groups have denounced the opposition’s bid to curb the Constitutional Court’s ability to rule on cases.
DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) described the amendments as “an act of retaliation” driven by recent Constitutional Court rulings to “paralyze” the court.”
She was likely referring to rulings this year that restricted the use of the death penalty in Taiwan and struck down the bulk of KMT-endorsed measures granting the Legislative Yuan broader investigative powers.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS