Alliance Statement | The Nomination Process Must Be Transparent and Parliamentary Review Strict; Do Not Repeat Past Hasty Procedures!

It is rumored that the Office of the President will announce candidates for Grand Justices, including the President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan, on Thursday, September 1, alongside the nomination of five new Grand Justices. However, the previous nomination process was hasty, lacking sufficient data on the nominees' suitability and sparking numerous controversies. As guardians of the constitutional order and human rights, the nomination of Grand Justices should naturally involve the full disclosure of the nomination process and relevant materials to command public trust. The Alliance to Monitor Grand Justice Nominations and Confirmation, which has long monitored the nomination and review of Grand Justices, hereby issues this renewed statement and call to action:

1. The Office of the President should disclose the review process and provide a detailed explanation of the reasons for selecting the nominees

The Office of the President established the "Grand Justice Nomination Recommendation Committee" with the original purpose of recommending the most suitable candidates for Grand Justices to society in a fair, impartial, and transparent manner. Therefore, upon announcing the nominees, the President should thoroughly explain the nomination criteria applied to candidates across various fields, clarify their positive and negative qualifications, and articulate the reasons for their selection to ensure the recommendation process is open and transparent. Furthermore, regarding the nominees for the President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan, the President should personally explain the judicial policy philosophies, human rights values, and other grounds that render them worthy of nomination, thereby securing public trust.

2. Relevant materials concerning nominees should be made available on the official website of the Office of the President for public review

In response to the advent of the digital age, methods of information dissemination must also evolve. For the candidates nominated by the President, the official website of the Office of the President should establish a dedicated webpage. In addition to introducing basic information such as the nominees' educational background, work experience, property, and taxation, it should also provide links to written materials such as representative publications, judgments, or documents related to their participation in constitutional practice (e.g., participation in constitutional amendments or interpretations) to illustrate the arguments they have previously advanced, as well as their relationship to the protection, promotion, and realization of a free and democratic constitutional order.

※ For information that nominees ought to disclose, please refer to the statement by Taiwan Association for Human Rights (Wait, Taiwan Democratic Watch)

3. The legislature should establish strict review standards and amend the law as soon as possible, avoiding a repetition of past superficial reviews

To implement strict review, the review process should at least include the following procedures:

1. The Office of the President shall submit the nominees' educational background, work experience, property, taxation, and other relevant information required for review to the legislature within seven days of the nomination; otherwise, the legislature shall directly return the instrument of nomination.
2. The legislature shall schedule the review period in advance, which shall be no less than one month.
3. Nominees shall be required in writing to answer questions concerning their qualifications and suitability, and to submit relevant supporting materials; the preparation time for nominees shall not be less than ten days.
4. Committees shall separately review and inquire about matters related to the nominees' qualifications and suitability.
5. A review report shall be produced prior to the review.
6. Prior to drafting the review report, a public hearing shall be convened to invite government personnel, relevant scholars and experts, civic organizations, or socially impartial figures to express their opinions.
7. The records of the public hearing and the relevant materials submitted shall serve as attachments to the review report.

Given that the current provisions concerning the consent power in the Law Governing the Exercise of Legislative Power are overly deficient, causing past reviews to be reduced to mere formalities, the legislature should amend or supplement the provisions of Chapter 4, "Exercise of Consent Power," of the Law Governing the Exercise of Legislative Power in accordance with the aforementioned procedures to lay down standards for strict review. Thereafter, it shall strictly review the suitability of the nominees in accordance with the revised review process.

Convenor, Alliance to Monitor Grand Justice Nominations and Confirmation Prof. Ch'ü Hai-yüan
Spokesperson Attorney Kao Jung-chih

Alliance Members

Hsien-she
Taiwan Law Society
Taiwan Association for Human Rights
Citizen Congress Watch
Taiwan Association for Indigent Defense (Association for Wrongful Convictions)
Taiwan Democratic Watch
Taiwan Women's Link
Judicial Reform Foundation

Media Contact

Kao Jung-chih, CEO of the Judicial Reform Foundation 02-2523-1178

---

Alliance 2016 Press Releases / Statements

1. 2016.08.15 Statement "On the Office of the President Returning the Instrument of Nomination for Grand Justices and the President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan"
2. 2016.07.21 Statement "Letter from the Alliance to Monitor Grand Justice Nominations and Confirmation to the President"
3. 2016.07.19 Press Conference "The Legislative Yuan Should Promptly Pass the Amendment to the 'Consent Power' to Implement a Mechanism for Strict Review of Grand Justice Candidates"
4. 2016.07.12 Statement "Regarding the Presidential Nomination of Hsieh Wen-ting as Grand Justice and President of the Judicial Yuan, and Lin Chin-fang as Grand Justice and Vice President"
5. 2016.06.15 Statement "Monitoring Grand Justice Nominations and Review Starts Right with the Recommendation Committee"
6. 2016.05.09 Press Conference "Establish a Strict Review Mechanism and Realize the Review of Grand Justice Candidates"