The Legislative Yuan Should Swiftly Pass the Amendment to the "Consent Appointment" to Implement a Rigorous Review Mechanism for Grand Justices

Return the Presidential Nomination Message to Manifest Checks and Balances and Congressional Reform
Statement by Civil Society Organizations and the Civil Alliance for the Monitoring of Grand Justices Nominees on Visiting the President and Caucus Groups of the Legislative Yuan

Since its establishment in 2003, the Civil Alliance for the Monitoring of Grand Justices Nominees has successively formed six evaluation committees to supervise and evaluate the review of Grand Justice nominees. However, whether due to conflicts between the ruling and opposition parties or legislative inertia, past reviews of Grand Justice candidates have largely been reduced to mere formalities, triggering widespread criticism in public opinion.

At the beginning of their term, the legislators of this current session prided themselves on congressional reform and successively introduced numerous congressional reform bills. In his inaugural speech, President Su Jia-chyuan declared that the new parliament of the future would be a new parliament of the people, an open parliament, and a professional parliament. He stated it would proceed from the interests of the people, transcend partisanship, strictly observe procedural neutrality, and return the parliament to the people. Various political parties have also successively proclaimed the spirit of congressional reform, with the DPP and the New Power Party each introducing draft amendments to the Organic Law of the Legislative Yuan.

Grand Justices are originally the guardians of the constitutional order, possessing the ultimate power of constitutional interpretation. Those serving as the President and Vice President among the Grand Justices are pivotal figures determining whether the judiciary can respond to the expectations of the people! Before the election, President Tsai Ing-wen published a blueprint for judicial reform, and after taking office, she actively mapped out the process of judicial reform, recently announcing the "Directions for the Establishment of the Preparatory Committee for the National Congress on Judicial Reform," demonstrating her ambition for judicial reform. However, the President's nomination of candidates for Grand Justices and concurrently as President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan this time was not only perfunctory and hasty, but her decision-making mindset was also fundamentally flawed. She mistakenly believed that senior bureaucrats within the administrative system were sufficient to execute the goals of judicial reform, while ignoring the independent and transcendent nature of Grand Justices! The appointment of political appointees in the administrative system cannot be mentioned in the same breath as the nomination of Grand Justices concurrently as President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan.

The personnel review case of the Grand Justices is the most crucial personnel review case since the legislators of this term took office, and it is also a touchstone testing the new parliament's determination for reform. In the past, the exercise of the consent power often degenerated into hasty superficiality and hollow review, and the Legislative Yuan was frequently mocked by public opinion as the President's rubber stamp. Consequently, the DPP and the New Power Party proposed draft amendments to the Organic Law of the Legislative Yuan, advocating that major personnel cases should have a review period of at least one or two months, and that a review report should be produced prior to voting to serve as a reference for legislators when casting their ballots. Utilizing an extraordinary session to review major personnel cases already involves significant controversy, yet rushing the review process—how can we repeat past mistakes?

To manifest the values of power oversight and checks and balances, and to echo the goal of congressional reform, the Legislative Yuan should immediately return the President's nomination message and request that the President earnestly heed advice from all sides, deliberate carefully, and re-submit qualified and appropriate candidates. Furthermore, the Alliance also calls for abandoning complacency and perfunctoriness in the review of Grand Justice personnel. Priding itself on being an open and professional parliament, the new legislature should establish standards for the review process.

The Alliance suggests:

1. The Legislative Yuan should pre-schedule the review timeline and must not make hasty and rushed decisions.
2. Questionnaires should be distributed to nominees in advance, and they should be required to provide review materials such as representative deeds, publications, and judgments.
3. A two-round review mechanism should be adopted: the first round through committee review, and the second round through a full-house review.
4. Multiple nominees should be reviewed individually.
5. Committee reviews should include hearing procedures.
6. Reports should be produced following the reviews.
7. The exercise of the consent power should take place one week after the production of the report.

In addition, the President should also be required to detail the criteria used for nominating the candidates following the nominations, and swiftly submit the relevant review materials of the nominees—including education background, work experience, property, and taxation—to the Legislative Yuan for record. If the President fails to meet the parliament's demands, the nomination message must be returned immediately and the review refused!

The errors in the President's current nomination decision are not entirely irremediable. If the parliament insists on acting as the President's rubber stamp, what will be lost is not only the opportunity for judicial reform over the next four years, but also the people's total distrust of both the executive and legislative branches! Standing at the crossroads of reform, how should the people's parliament make its choice? Please think twice!

Visiting Representatives of the Civil Alliance for the Monitoring of Grand Justices Nominees

Ch'ü Hai-yüan, Professor / Convener, Civil Alliance for the Monitoring of Grand Justices Nominees
Lin Yung-sung, Attorney / Chairperson, Judicial Reform Foundation
Ch'en Chao-ju, Professor / Chairperson, Taiwan Association for Human Rights (Taiwan Supporting Democracy Platform)
Yen Chüeh-an, Professor / Supervisor, Taiwan Supporting Democracy Platform
Li Yüeh-hui, Secretary-General, Taiwan Supporting Democracy Platform
Ch'iu Wen-ts'ung, Professor / President, The Society of Constitutional and Civil Jurisprudence (Hsueh She)
Hsü Wei-ch'ün, Professor / Executive Member, Citizens' Constitutional Promotion Alliance
Hsü Shih-jung, Professor / Chairperson, Protect Taiwan's Land Association
T'u Yü-yin, Professor / Executive Member, Taiwan Association for Human Rights, and Ch'iu I-ling, Secretary-General, Taiwan Association for Human Rights
Chang Yeh-sen, Physician / President, North Taiwan Society
Chang Hung-lin, Executive Director, Citizen Congress Watch
Ch'in Yü-jung, Secretary-General, Awakening Foundation
Ch'in Chi-fang, Director, Awakening Foundation
Lin Chia-ho, Professor, Taiwan Professors' Association
Lo Wu-lung, Executive Member, Debt Slaves Self-Help Association
Kao Jung-chih, Attorney / Spokesperson, Civil Alliance for the Monitoring of Grand Justices Nominees

Participating Organizations

Civil Alliance for the Monitoring of Grand Justices Nominees
The Society of Constitutional and Civil Jurisprudence (Hsueh She)
Taiwan Law Society
Taiwan Association for Human Rights
Taiwan Supporting Democracy Platform
Citizens' Constitutional Promotion Alliance
Citizen Congress Watch
Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Rights Conventions
Association for Innocence Project Taiwan
Environmental Jurists Association
Protect Taiwan's Land Association
Taiwan Wild Bird Federation (WildisGreen Association)
Taiwan Jury Association
Catholic Diocese of Hsinchu - Migrants and Immigrants Service Center (Catholic Vietnam Migrant Workers and Spouses Office)
Taiwan Forever Society, Awakening Foundation
Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty
North Taiwan Society
Economic Democracy Union
Debt Slaves Self-Help Association
Judicial Reform Foundation