Civil Society Evaluation Questionnaires Reveal Constitutional Vision ~ Alliance for Civil Monitoring of Grand Justice Nominees

Composed of 13 civil society organizations, the "Alliance for Civil Monitoring of Grand Justice Nominees" (hereinafter referred to as the Alliance) held a press conference today (the 30th) at Room 101, Chung-Hsing Building, Legislative Yuan, announcing the formation of the "Grand Justice Nominee Evaluation Committee" (hereinafter referred to as the Evaluation Committee) to evaluate the nominees respectively, and urging the nominees to faithfully respond to the "Questionnaire" and "Personal Information Survey Form" sent by the Alliance. In addition, the Alliance also called on the Legislative Yuan to grant the general public a period of more than one month to express their opinions, so as to ensure a more appropriate review process.

Vice President Ch'en Chien-jen held a press conference on May 27 and announced the four Grand Justice nominees: Yang Hui-chin, Judge and President of the Kaohsiung High Administrative Court; Tsai Tsung-zhen, Minister of Civil Service; Hsieh Ming-yang, Professor at the Department of Law, National Taiwan University; and Lü T'ai-lang, Secretary-General of the Judicial Yuan. They will succeed the four outgoing Grand Justices whose terms end on September 30: Huang Hsi-chün, Tang Te-tsung, Lo Chang-fa, and Ch'en Pi-yü. The Alliance believes that Grand Justices hold the ultimate power of constitutional interpretation and consistently play a pivotal role in guiding Taiwan's constitutional development and human rights protection. Therefore, the Alliance issues the following statement regarding the Grand Justice nominees announced on May 27:

1. Affirming the early announcement of the list and relevant information for public feedback

   The time span from the announcement date of this list to the expiration of the Grand Justices' terms is over four months, allowing the Legislative Yuan ample time to review the nominees and exercise its consent power. Compared to the previous nomination on September 1, 2016, to succeed Grand Justices whose terms expired on October 31, which gave the Legislative Yuan only two months to exercise its consent power, this early announcement is commendable.

   In addition, the Alliance held a press conference on March 26, presenting advice to the Office of the President's "2019 Judicial Yuan Grand Justice Nomination Recommendation Committee" (hereinafter referred to as the Recommendation Committee), calling on the Recommendation Committee to explain its review criteria, the nominees' past experiences, the reasons for their selection, and to publish online the nominees' representative judgments and writings, as well as deeds or supporting documents demonstrating their awareness of constitutional human rights and gender equality. After the announcement of this list, the Office of the President set up a dedicated section on its official website to publicly explain the contents raised in the aforementioned advice, which is highly commendable.

2. The Alliance will form an Evaluation Committee to conduct individual evaluations of the nominees

   To properly evaluate the nominees, the Alliance will follow past practice by inviting experts to form an Evaluation Committee to conduct individual evaluations of the nominees. The evaluation committee members will conduct in-depth investigations and analyses on items such as the nominees' moral integrity, human rights background, academic and professional competence, and constitutional human rights philosophy, and will fully consider the nominees' past words and deeds, previously published writings and discourses, professional performance, social participation, and personal integrity to produce the evaluation report.

   It should be specially noted that during the evaluation process, members operate independently, conduct anonymous reviews, and comply with recusal and confidentiality obligations, in order to strive for fairness, objectivity, and professionalism in the evaluation report. The Evaluation Committee will ultimately assign scores and determine the suitability of each nominee, and the results will be made public by the Alliance.

3. Calling on nominees to faithfully respond to the "Questionnaire" and "Personal Information Survey Form"

   To enable evaluation committee members to have sufficient information for their evaluations and avoid excessive secondhand information affecting the committee's assessment of the nominees, the Alliance will send the "Personal Information Survey Form" and "Questionnaire" to the nominees, requesting them to faithfully respond to the listed questions within two weeks of receiving them, to facilitate the review by the Evaluation Committee. If a nominee fails to respond, the Evaluation Committee will still independently gather relevant information to conduct the evaluation.

   It should be specially noted that the Alliance will only publish the responded questionnaires and will not make the personal information survey forms public. Contents involving personal data protection will be kept confidential, and nominees can rest assured.

4. Calling on the Legislative Yuan to grant the general public a period of more than one month to express opinions

   According to Article 5 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution, after the President nominates Grand Justices, they must be appointed with the consent of the Legislative Yuan. Currently, there are still four months remaining from the President's nomination until the expiration of the terms of the four current Grand Justices (September 30) for the Legislative Yuan to exercise its consent power. We call on the Legislative Yuan to give the general public more than one month to express their opinions on the nominees. Only after collecting opinions from all sectors of society can the Legislative Yuan deliberate more appropriately and exercise the Grand Justice consent power.

Attending Representatives

Kao Yang-hui / Standing Executive Committee Member, Judicial Reform Foundation
Chang Hung-lin / Chief Executive Officer, Citizens' Congress Watch
Lin Chun-hung / Chairperson, Judicial Reform Committee, Taipei Bar Association
Tseng Chao-yuan / Senior Researcher, Awakening Foundation
Hung Chung-yen / Deputy Secretary-General, Taiwan Association for Implementing Universal Society
Lin Ping-chuan / Office Director, Association for Citizens' Right to Trial by Jury
Chen Yen-geng / Full-time Attorney, Judicial Reform Foundation

Alliance Members

(Ordered by stroke count)
Citizens' Congress Watch
Taipei Bar Association
Taiwan Association for Human Rights
Taiwan Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Taiwan Forever
Taiwan Law Society
Judicial Reform Foundation
Taiwan Association for Implementing Universal Society
Taiwan Association for Innocence
Awakening Foundation
Association for Citizens' Right to Trial by Jury
Society of Wilderness / Yen-Hsin (Note: May refer to Constellation/Society, translating standard name: Yen-Hsin Society)
Garden of Hope Foundation
Environmental Jurists Association

Press Contact

Judicial Reform Foundation / Attorney Chen Yen-geng (02)2523-1178