Taiwan Church News.
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Nov 25 ~ Dec 1, 2024
Weekly Topical
Defending Taiwan’s Constitutional Court, Lawyers and Citizens Rallied to Protest Against the Pro-China Opposition Parties
Reported by Chiu Kuo-rong from Taipei
In the evening on November 22, next to the Chung-Hsian Hall of the Legislative Yuan, 18 civic groups held the event of “Citizen Rally for Constitution” to protest against KMT’s amended bill of Constitutional Court Procedure Act. The Judicial Reform Foundation (hereinafter referred to as the JRF) and other civic groups warned that if KMT’s amended bill is passed, it would actually stop and kill the Constitutional Court and seriously threaten Taiwan’s constitutional system and the basic rights and interests of the people.
The controversy over the amendment of the Constitutional Court Procedure Act originated from the recent Constitutional Court’s ruling, in response to the power-grabbing expansive bill of “Law Governing Legislative Yuan’s Power” in mid-October, 2024. JRF pointed out that KMT not only ignored the ruling, but also took a tougher stance to draft more controversial procedure act about the Supreme Court and then triggered a strong backlash from Taiwan society.
Speaking to the audience of the assembly, Lawyer Lin Yong-song, a member of the Chi-Nan Church of Chi-Hsin presbytery and the executive director of JRF, said “the Constitutional Court, as the guardian of Taiwan’s constitutional system, is irreplaceable in protecting the basic rights of the people and maintaining the power of the government.”
However, due to a political manipulation by KMT to delay nominating 8 Grand Justice, the remaining 7 of the 15 seats of Grand Justice in the Constitutional Court have been crippled and cannot function properly. Lawyer Lin criticized such KMT’s preposterous plot to abolish Taiwan Supreme Court via raising ruling threshold required of current Grand Justice seats to a ridiculously infeasible level.
“Once KMT’s amended bill is passed, the Constitutional Court, which has only eight Grand Justices at present, will not be able to open the court as it cannot reach the legal threshold of two-thirds of legal total amount of 15 Grand Justices, i.e. 10 Grand Justices,” Lawyer Lin pointed out in details, “and many important constitutional and political cases will not be heard, which will seriously weaken the judicial protection of the rights and interests of the people.”
He also took Hong Kong as an example to warn Taiwan society that if judicial independence in the Supreme Court is politically manipulated without monitor and control from civic society, Taiwan’s democracy and the rule of law would soon to break down.
To make the public to understand the serious impacts of the constitutional crisis, Lawyer Lin cited another example and said, “if the Legislative Yuan passes a law in future stipulating that any one criticizes a specific leader will be sentenced to no more than five years in prison, and the Constitutional Court is unable to open a court to deliberate the legitimacy of the bill, or rule whether such law is constitutional or not, then the freedom of speech in Taiwan will be seriously bleached.” He stressed that this is not only an imminent danger, but a real crisis that may occur if the Constitutional Court is suspended due to an amended bill of its procedure act.
Prof Huang Song-lih, director of the Covenants Watch, remarked that KMT’s current amended bill of Constitutional Court Procedure Act is not to improve the judicial system, but to weaken the supervision function of the judiciary and its initiative motivation is purely out of political interests. He reminded the audience that the world is seized by a trend of democratic regression, and many democratic countries are currently being subjugated under authoritarian forces, and judicial independence is often the primary target of these populist dictators.
“KMT’s proposed amended bill is precisely the concrete Taiwanese embodiment of this global trend,” he called, “it desperately needs the whole country to be highly vigilant and join hands in hands to resist any act that undermine our judicial independence!”
“Facing this constitutional crisis, the civic groups should stand up against KMT’s amended bill,” Prof Huang urged, “ as the Constitutional Court is the last line of resistance to defend Taiwan’s democracy and human rights, and its normal operation is not allowed to be interfered or destroyed by any political plots.”
In addition, on November 16, Taiwan Bar Association (TBA) and its local branches also launched the event of “Rally for Constitution”, attended by more than 300 lawyers and 2,000 citizens to demonstrate their strong protest against the amended bill. Taiwan Bar Association and many local Bar Associations, from Nantou, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Taipei, Tainan, Taoyuan and Pingtung, all expressed their protest against the provocative and unworthy amended bill of the Supreme Court.
Convener of the TBA rally pointed out that the KMT’s amended bill not only significantly raises the threshold for hearing cases to two-thirds of Grand Justices, but also tries to redefine the total amount, which may lead to the collapse of the Constitutional Court.
“If such amended bill is passed,” TBA convener warned, “the existing eight Grand Justices’ constitutional courts will lose their p
ower to operate and will not be capable of handling cases of civil rights petitions or any conflict between administrative and legislative powers.” “This judicial vacuum may further intensify political divisions and bring more chaos to Taiwan society,” the convener warned.
JRF emphasized in its statement that although politicians have the right to criticize the judiciary system, they will seriously threaten Taiwan’s constitutional democracy by collectively violating judicial rulings and even trying to weaken judicial independence by passing the amended bill.
“It is to challenge the ruling of the Constitutional Court and try to put justice under their political manipulations,” JRF explained the real intention of KMT’s authoritarian conspiracy, “which not only to violate the principle of judicial independence, but also rock the boat to erase Taiwan’s hard-won democracy by the rule of law.”
Translated by Peter Wolfe
