Alliance for Civilian Oversight of Judicial Yuan Grand Justices (including President and Vice President) Candidates Visits President Chen Shui-bian

Initiated by six civic organizations—the Taiwan Association for University Rights (Cheng She), Taiwan Law Society, Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Taiwan Bar Association, Taipei Bar Association, and Judicial Reform Foundation—the "Alliance for Civilian Oversight of Judicial Yuan Grand Justices (including President and Vice President) Candidates" (hereinafter referred to as the "Grand Justices Oversight Alliance") paid its first visit to President Chen Shui-bian at 11:00 a.m. today (April 7). During the meeting, the alliance presented five demands directly to the President to serve as a reference for his nomination of Grand Justices, and urged President Chen to fulfill the commitments regarding Grand Justice nominations he made during the 2000 presidential election.

Ku Chung-hua, convener of the Grand Justices Oversight Alliance, first expressed to the President the public's concern regarding the nomination of the next Judicial Yuan Grand Justices and its President and Vice President. Aside from hoping that the President will soon release the list of nominees and explain it to all sectors of society, he also expressed the hope that the President will personally serve as the convener of the Grand Justice Nomination Advisory Committee, demonstrating the importance attached to Grand Justice candidates and judicial reform.

Next, Lin Feng-cheng, standing executive committee member of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, noted that during his 2000 presidential campaign, President Chen published the Chen Shui-bian National Blueprint, in which the "White Paper on Judicial Reform" clearly declared: "Given the breadth and depth of the impact of Grand Justices' constitutional interpretation activities on civil society life, and given that the caliber of Grand Justice candidates directly concerns the realization of the constitution's ideal of protecting human rights, we advocate that the appointment of Grand Justices should abandon political considerations and break away from the formalism of proportional allocation in the past." The alliance expressed its strong agreement with this and urged President Chen to fulfill the commitments he made during that campaign regarding Grand Justice nominations.

Subsequently, Kuo Lin-yung, president of the Taiwan Bar Association, also spoke on behalf of the alliance, advocating that when nominating Grand Justice candidates, the President should consider their moral integrity, scholarship and competence, professional performance, and constitutional awareness, rather than using the nominees' provincial origin, region, background, or ideology as the primary basis. Nevertheless, to promote gender equality, alliance representative Kuo Lin-yung specifically pointed out: "The President should increase the nomination of female Grand Justice candidates to address the longstanding phenomenon of a low proportion of female Grand Justices in our country."

Furthermore, regarding the candidates for the next President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan, Ch'en Ch'uan-yüeh, chairman of the Judicial Reform Foundation, also urged the President to pay attention to whether the nominees possess the strong determination and exceptional ability to carry out judicial reform, and whether they are undeterred by criticism and indifferent to personal gains or losses in implementing judicial reform.

In addition, Li Nien-chu, president of curvatures the Taipei Bar Association, reminded the President on behalf of the alliance to learn the lesson from the previous nomination of Examination Yuan members, where public opinion generally held a poor perception of the nomination and consent-seeking process. He argued that it is preferable to rely on high idealism to win cross-party legislative support and backing from all sectors of society for the nominees, rather than reducing Grand Justice nominations to bargaining chips for political spoils.

Finally, Ku Li-hsiung, director of the Taiwan Law Society, emphasized that after the President nominates the candidates for the next Judicial Yuan Grand Justices and its President and Vice President, the Grand Justices Oversight Alliance will broadly consult professional groups and all sectors of society, organize an evaluation committee to conduct individual assessments, and publicly voice opposition to unsuitable nominees. Therefore, he expressed hope that the President will prudently exercise the power of nomination, allowing our country's democratic constitutionalism and judicial reform to advance toward a new milestone.

After listening to the demands of the Grand Justices Oversight Alliance, President Chen Shui-bian stated on the spot: "The Alliance's views are much the same as mine," and expressed that the Grand Justice candidates nominated in the future "must have a correct understanding of constitutionalism, maintain a steadfast commitment to human rights protection, democratic rule of law, and care for disadvantaged groups, and have practical participation and contributions." Furthermore, the President pledged that when nominating Grand Justice candidates in the future, "there will absolutely be no political considerations whatsoever, nor will there be any partisan proportional allocation or political spoils sharing." Regarding the longstanding phenomenon of a low number of female Grand Justices, the President also explicitly declared: "Although I dare not venture to say what the exact proportion of female Grand Justice nominees will be, I can guarantee that this will absolutely be the highest number of female Grand Justices nominated in history!" Finally, addressing the alliance's concerns about the nomination timetable and whether he would personally serve as the convener of the Nomination Advisory Committee, President Chen explained that the list of nominees for Judicial Yuan Grand Justices, including the President and Vice President, will be submitted to the Legislative Yuan in May of this year for the exercise of its consent power. He also indicated that while by convention the President does not personally serve as a member of the Nomination Advisory Committee, "Everyone can rest assured! I will take full responsibility for the nominations and answer to history."

Regarding President Chen's declarations and responses, Ku Chung-hua, convener of the Grand Justices Oversight Alliance, stated: "The Alliance is optimistic about this," and expressed the hope that this Grand Justice nomination will not devolve into formalistic considerations, but will genuinely review candidates based on substantive criteria such as human rights ideals, democratic literacy, and care for the disadvantaged. In the future, the alliance will continue to monitor the President's nominations and the Legislative Yuan's procedures for exercising its consent power, and hopes that President Chen will keep his promises so that this Grand Justice nomination can withstand the test of history and public evaluation.

Alliance Representatives

Ku Chung-hua　Alliance Convener, President of Cheng She
Ch'en Ch'uan-yüeh　Chairman, Judicial Reform Foundation
Kuo Lin-yung　President, Taiwan Bar Association
Huang Wen-hsiung　Advisor, Taiwan Association for Human Rights
Ku Li-hsiung　Director, Taiwan Law Society
Li Nien-chu　President, Taipei Bar Association
Huang Kuo-chung　Chair of the Constitutional Committee, Taipei Bar Association
Lin Feng-cheng　Standing Executive Committee Member, Taiwan Association for Human Rights
Lin Ching-ping　Alliance CEO and Spokesperson, CEO of the Judicial Reform Foundation