Urgent Statement by the Alliance for Civil Monitoring of Grand Justice Nominees (Including the President and Vice President) of the Judicial Yuan

To prevent the nomination of the President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan from becoming a tool for political maneuvering, the Alliance for Civil Monitoring of Grand Justice Nominees (Including the President and Vice President) of the Judicial Yuan—jointly formed by five civil organizations including Cheng She, Taiwan Law Society, Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Taipei Bar Association, and the Judicial Reform Foundation—issues a solemn statement regarding the recent controversies sparked by the ruling and opposition parties over the qualifications of candidates for the next President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan:

In view of the current critical period of judicial reform, the Alliance believes that the next President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan should possess the following qualifications:

1. Courageous in upholding human rights, possessing democratic literacy, constitutional concepts, and professional competence.
2. Possessing a strong sense of mission to defend judicial independence, and capable of effectively improving the quality of judgments and the judicial trial environment.
3. Possessing a strong vision for judicial reform, unafraid of criticism and unconcerned with personal gains and losses in implementing judicial reform.
4. Knowing people well and employing them wisely, with outstanding leadership abilities.

At the same an, the Alliance does not endorse the proposals by certain legislators that the President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan should be subject to an upper age limit and should have served as Grand Justices for at least three years. Domestic laws do not impose age limits on the President, Vice President, or the heads and deputy heads of the other four Yuan; why should an upper age limit be imposed exclusively on the President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan? Moreover, given the aging domestic population structure, healthy older individuals are ubiquitous, raising questions about the necessity and justification of setting such limits. Furthermore, the cultivation of legal professionals requires time and refinement; age 65 may precisely be their prime and golden period, and there is no need to exclude them from contributing to the nation.

In addition, restricting candidates for the President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan to those who have served as Grand Justices for at least three years would preemptively exclude the possibility of more qualified candidates taking up these positions. Therefore, the Alliance also opposes such unwarranted restrictive regulations.