I Want My Grand Justices: Expectations of Various Sectors of Society Regarding Grand Justice Candidates

New Grand Justices are set to take office this October, and the President will soon nominate candidates to be submitted to the Legislative Yuan for consent. The Alliance for Citizen Monitoring of Judicial Yuan Grand Justice (including President and Vice President) Candidates, initiated by six civil society organizations including the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR), Awakening Foundation, Taiwan Law Society, Taiwan Bar Association (TWBA), Taipei Bar Association, and the Judicial Reform Foundation (JRF), believes that the nomination of Grand Justices is crucial to the development of human rights in Taiwan, must be free from political considerations, and should incorporate diverse public opinions. Therefore, the Alliance held a press conference on April 4, 2003, titled "I Want My Grand Justices: Expectations of Various Sectors of Society Regarding Grand Justice Candidates."

During the press conference, multiple civil society organizations—such as the Awakening Foundation, Taiwan Tongzhi (LGBT+) Human Rights Hotline Association (Note: translated conceptually as Sex/Gender Human Rights Association), Taiwan Indigenous Peoples Policy Association, Action Committee for Labor Legislation, Awakening Foundation, JRF, TAHR, Taipei Bar Association, and TWBA—articulated the qualifications their ideal Grand Justice candidates should possess, as well as the human rights issues they should be well-versed in or hold an open attitude toward, serving as a reference for presidential nominations and the Legislative Yuan's consent power.

The reason modern liberal democratic constitutional states enact constitutions is to "limit government power and protect the fundamental rights of the people." Therefore, protecting human rights can be said to be the primary purpose of a constitution, which is why the constitution is often referred to as the "guarantee of the people's rights."

According to Articles 78, 79 Paragraph 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of China, and Article 5 Paragraph 4 of the Additional Articles, the Judicial Yuan shall have Grand Justices who are tasked with interpreting the Constitution, unifying the interpretation of laws and ordinances, and reviewing unconstitutional political parties. In practical operation, the most important work of the Grand Justices is to conduct constitutional reviews of relevant state public power measures when people's fundamental rights are infringed. In other words, Grand Justices are the final remedy for the people's rights, and Grand Justice interpretations have binding force on all state organs nationwide (Interpretation No. 185), while also serving a guiding role for subsequent court judgments.

For civil society organizations, the authority of Grand Justices in constitutional interpretation is particularly significant. In other words, the human rights philosophy of the Grand Justices themselves, along with their open attitude and familiarity with human rights issues in various fields, is crucial to whether Taiwan's social movements can move forward, achieve concrete results, and realize the ideal of Taiwan as a "state based on human rights."

Huang Chang-ling, Vice Chairperson of the Awakening Foundation, stated at the meeting that when discussing the qualifications of Grand Justice candidates, special attention should be paid to the principle of gender proportional representation and the gender consciousness of the candidates.

Huang Chang-ling indicated that the principle of gender proportional representation is not limited to discussions on reserved quotas for women, but should also ensure that the principle applies to both sexes—meaning men can also be protected thereby—in order to truly create the values of gender equality, and this dimension must not be overlooked in any field.

Huang Chang-ling further explained the importance of gender consciousness among Grand Justices, citing examples of judges who currently lack gender consciousness. When exercising judicial discretion, these judges still ignore the fact that the Legislative Yuan passed the Chapter on Offenses Against Sexual Autonomy in 2001, continuing to judge behaviors involving offenses against sexual autonomy using the standards of offenses against public morals. Whether determining if forced obscenity is established, they still base their decisions on whether sexual desires were aroused rather than whether the victim's sexual autonomy was infringed. Huang Chang-ling stated: "If future Grand Justices possess considerable gender consciousness and concepts of gender equality, they are expected to simultaneously correct all such biased judgments."

Wang P'ing, Secretary-General of the Sex/Gender Human Rights Association, expressed the view that the law must protect the people, but the definition of "the people" here is critical to whether the rights of different communities can be genuinely recognized and cared for. Therefore, Wang P'ing believes that Grand Justice candidates must be representative, sufficiently diverse and open in their perspectives, and the process of selecting Grand Justice candidates must also adhere to democratic principles, allowing different communities the opportunity to monitor them.
 
Wang P'ing noted that regarding the serious defamation of women's bodies involved in the "old maid" controversy, its strong and serious contentious nature had been drowned out by a war of words, behind which lay party interests. In other words, given Taiwan's current social conditions, it is evident that all issues are constrained by party interests and cannot be restored to their original state. Wang P'ing emphasized, "Standing from the perspective of disadvantaged groups, we strongly demand that party considerations must be absolutely excluded from the nomination of Grand Justices!"

Ch'en Ch'uan-yüeh, Chairperson of the JRF, stated that the nomination of the next batch of Grand Justice candidates should focus not only on their human rights philosophy, constitutional awareness, moral integrity, and professional competence, but also called on the President—when nominating the next President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan—to consider their sense of mission in implementing judicial reform and defending judicial independence, "so as not to let the judicial reform currently underway be abandoned halfway, or even come to naught, betraying the public's earnest expectations for rejuvenating the judiciary."

Ch'en Ch'uan-yüeh explained that although the National Judicial Reform Conference held in 1989 (Note: Republic Calendar 88 corresponds to 1999) mapped out a blueprint for Taiwan's judicial reform direction, and the realization of "judicial independence" has achieved certain results under the efforts of former President Shih Ch'i-yang and current President Weng Yüeh-sheng, past polling results show that public trust in the judiciary averages less than 40 percent, accompanied by widespread dissatisfaction with judicial efficiency and the quality of judgments. "Future judicial reform clearly still has a grueling uphill battle to fight!" Therefore, whether the next President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan possess the determination and ability to carry reforms through to the end is deeply tied to the success or failure of Taiwan's judicial reform. Civil judicial reform organizations cannot but maintain a high level of concern, nor can they stop reminding the President and the Legislative Yuan—which will exercise its consent power in the future—to face this issue squarely.

Yang Chih-wei, Chairperson of the Taiwan Indigenous Peoples Policy Association, pointed out that Taiwan boasts of "constitutionalism," the purpose of which is to safeguard the fundamental rights of the people. However, Taiwan's indigenous peoples are facing a crisis of ethnic sustainability and survival. "The extinction of ethnic cultures reflects the inadequacy of Taiwanism's constitutionalism; a growing number of conflicts between indigenous peoples and Han Chinese highlight the friction between traditional norms and modern legal codes."

Yang Chih-wei explained that the judiciary is the final remedy and defense line for the people's rights, "especially for indigenous peoples who are in an absolute political minority; the judiciary has become the ultimate weapon to protect rights outside of legislative and administrative avenues." Therefore, the appointment of Grand Justices is even more critical for indigenous peoples. Yang Chih-wei stated that to be closer to this land of Taiwan, having a basic understanding of Taiwan's indigenous ethnic groups—which differ from mainstream society and culture—is a fundamental condition for being a Taiwanese Grand Justice.

Yang Chih-wei emphasized that Taiwan should create a multicultural constitutionalism, and Grand Justice candidates should possess cultural knowledge of diverse ethnic groups, understand the historical context of various ethnic groups in Taiwan, and be familiar with the human rights knowledge and rights concerning current international indigenous development.

Wei Ch'ien-feng, Chairperson of the TAHR, also pointed out that Grand Justice candidates should have a certain degree of understanding of international human rights knowledge to ensure that national human rights policies can align with international standards.

Ch'en Ch'uan-yüeh, Executive Director of the Taiwan Bar Association, suggested that the sources of Grand Justices should be diversified. In addition to outstanding and specialized scholars, judges, and prosecutors, it is hoped that lawyers with in-depth research in constitutional law and jurisprudence will be nominated.

Furthermore, Wei Ch'ien-feng pointed out that Grand Justice candidates should have a sufficient commitment to the people's freedom and rights, and possess a sensitivity toward the expansion of state power. Wei Ch'ien-feng also stated that Grand Justices should care for disadvantaged communities and understand their human rights conditions; "the realization of human rights cannot be measured by taking an average."

Considering that Grand Justices should have basic interpretive capabilities regarding emerging or gray-area human rights issues (such as surrogate motherhood), Wei Ch'ien-feng specifically reminded that "in addition to legal expertise, Grand Justice candidates should possess a certain level of literacy in the humanities and social sciences."