[Alliance Statement] Regarding the Presidential Office's Withdrawal of the Nomination Message for Grand Justices and the President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan

Regarding the Presidential Office's withdrawal of the nomination message for Grand Justices and the President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan, the Alliance for Citizen Monitoring of Grand Justice Nominees issues the following statement:

1. The recent nomination process was hasty and rushed; the Presidential Office should make the Grand Justice nomination process open and transparent

   Candidates for Grand Justices who concurrently serve as the President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan not only shoulder the heavy responsibility of judicial reform, but are also key figures in leading Grand Justices to make forward-looking constitutional and human rights interpretations. The nomination criteria should review past ideals regarding judicial reform as well as evaluate their constitutional and human rights perspectives. However, the recent nomination process for Grand Justices and the President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan not only bypassed a review committee and failed to gather opinions from various sectors, but also omitted any public disclosure of the screening criteria for candidates. Furthermore, upon announcing the candidates, they were immediately submitted to the legislature with a demand to exercise the consent power. This clearly shows that the President's recognition of the importance of the Chief Justice remains insufficient, ultimately provoking backlash from all sectors of society. To prevent the recurrence of the same situation, the Presidential Office should appropriately open and transparentize the Grand Justice nomination process, incorporating opinions from all sides in order to nominate the most suitable candidates.

2. After proper review, the names of seven Grand Justice candidates should be released as soon as possible, along with a public explanation of the nomination criteria and expectations

   The terms of five Grand Justices, including Ch'en Hsin-min (陳新民), will expire at the end of October this year. To allow the legislature and the public sufficient review time, the President should, after proper screening and recommendation, release the list of seven Grand Justice candidates including the President and Vice President as soon as possible, publicly explain the nomination criteria and suitability of each nominee, and articulate expectations for the new Grand Justices.

3. Candidates possessing constitutional human rights and gender equality awareness should be nominated

   Grand Justices bear the heavy responsibility of safeguarding the Constitution and protecting human rights. The selection of candidates should demonstrate forward-looking thinking and progressive practices in constitutional egalitarian human rights and gender equality awareness, which should be reflected in their academic works, practical actions, and experience. Nominees should also fully and truthfully explain their work experience and present past academic writings, judgments, indictments, case files, and other relevant documents as proof.

4. To thoroughly examine the nominees' past experiences, secret archives from the authoritarian period should be made public

   During this alliance's evaluation process of nominees Hsieh Wen-ting (謝文定) and Lin Chin-fang (林錦芳), we repeatedly failed to see the full picture due to insufficient data. The greatest obstacle among these is that the secret archives of the authoritarian period still remain unreleased. In yesterday's (8/14) press release, the President mentioned once again that "the presidential and vice presidential candidate combination nominated in the future will still balance practical experience and academic prestige to ensure that the judicial system can undergo pragmatic reforms." This shows that future nominees may include judges and prosecutors from practical backgrounds. To ensure that nominees' past experiences can be rigorously examined, and simultaneously to achieve the goal of transitional justice, the government should promptly disclose the secret archives of the authoritarian period, return the right to know to victims, and submit them for public inspection.

5. After the amendment to the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan's Power is passed, the legislature should review judicial personnel cases in accordance with the new law, decide whether to consent to individual Grand Justice candidates based on members' personal free will, and adopt a recorded vote

   At the beginning of their term, the current legislators loudly proclaimed congressional reform and drafted amendment bills regarding the "Personnel Consent Power" in the hope of giving the legislature at least one month or more to review important personnel cases (including Grand Justices). Although the amendments have gained majority consensus in committees, the legislative revision has yet to be completed. To set a benchmark for this Grand Justice personnel review case, the legislature should prioritize passing the amendment to the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan's Power, explicitly stipulating the schedule for Grand Justice personnel reviews, allowing individual members to exercise their consent power, and adopting a recorded vote. Only thus can the value of legislators as national representatives conducting rigorous reviews of Grand Justice personnel appointments be manifested.

Convenor of the Alliance for Citizen Monitoring of Grand Justice Nominees Prof. Ch'ü Hai-yüan (瞿海源)
Spokesperson Attorney Kao Jung-chih (高榮志)

Alliance Members

Hsueh-she (澄社)
Taiwan Law Society
Taiwan Association for Human Rights
Citizen Congress Watch
Taiwan Association for Innocence
Taiwan Forever
Awakening Foundation
Judicial Reform Foundation

Media Contact

Alliance for Citizen Monitoring of Grand Justice Nominees Spokesperson Attorney Kao Jung-chih 02-2523-1178