The Legislative Yuan today rejected all seven grand justice nominees for the Constitutional Court, marking the second time lawmakers have rejected President William Lai’s (賴清德) picks.
Due to the combined majority held by the opposition parties, no nominee was able to pass the threshold of 57 votes to secure approval.
In the 113-seat legislature, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) holds a majority of 54 seats together with two independent lawmakers, while the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) has eight seats.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has 51 seats.
The KMT and TPP caucuses both vowed to reject all the nominees ahead of the vote.
Grand justices should be the last line of defense of the judiciary, KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) told reporters before the session.
After Lai took office, grand justices have superseded the legislature and made rulings that went against standard practices in all developed countries in the world, Fu said.
Some KMT lawmakers had reportedly considered approving one nominee, but decided not to out of concern that they would “listen to the DPP.”
DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) called the opposition parties’ decision a “political maneuver.”
The delay in confirming the appointment of grand justices has made it difficult for the Constitution Court to operate normally, Wu said.
The KMT and the TPP should clearly state their reasons if they oppose the nominations, Wu said.
The nominees were selected by Lai on March 21.
They include High Prosecutors’ Office chief prosecutor Tsai Chiu-ming (蔡秋明) and Supreme Court judge Su Su-e (蘇素娥), who were nominated as president and vice president of the Judicial Yuan respectively, as well as grand justices.
Other nominees include Supreme Court judge Cheng Chun-hui (鄭純惠), High Prosecutors’ Office head prosecutor Lin Li-ying (林麗瑩), and law professors Hsiao Wen-sheng (蕭文生), Chen Tsi-yang (陳慈陽) and Chan Chen-jung (詹鎮榮).
Currently, only eight justices preside over the 15-seat court, after seven completed their terms at the end of October last year.
Justice Shieh Ming-yan (謝銘洋) is serving as the court's president.
Additional reporting by Liu Wan-lin
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of
RSS