Press Release on the Comprehensive Evaluation of the Exercise of Consent Power for Grand Justices of the Judicial Yuan in 2003

After the Legislative Yuan voted today (the 16th) on its consent to the 2003 nominees for Grand Justices of the Judicial Yuan (including its President and Vice President), the "Civil Society Alliance to Monitor the Nomination of Grand Justices (Including the President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan)" (the "Alliance") held a press conference expressing the hope that the new President, Vice President, and Grand Justices will protect human rights and strengthen democracy and the rule of law, and presenting its observations and recommendations on the Legislative Yuan's review of the nominees and exercise of its consent power. According to the Alliance's legislative observation team, which watched legislators review the nominees over several days, the DPP performed best overall, followed by independent legislators, the KMT, and the TSU, with the PFP coming last. The Alliance also called on the President, the Legislative Yuan, and the public to learn from the valuable experience and lessons of this nomination and consent process as a reference for improving the relevant legal framework in the future.

The Alliance said that this nomination and consent process for the Grand Justices (including the President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan) was of great significance both for raising public awareness of the Constitution and for the country's future constitutional development. In particular, as Taiwan has democratized, the role of the Grand Justices has grown ever greater and their position ever more important. The Alliance hopes the new President, Vice President, and Grand Justices will shoulder the heavy responsibilities of protecting human rights, strengthening democracy and the rule of law, achieving fairness and justice, protecting disadvantaged groups, and persisting in judicial reform, and will live up to the trust of the whole nation.

As for Mr. Cheng Chung-mo, whom the Alliance had earlier evaluated as unfit to serve as a Grand Justice and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan, and who was confirmed by the Legislative Yuan, the Alliance expressed regret but no surprise. It stressed that its evaluation report with specific evidence, the Taipei Bar Association's omission of Cheng from its list of recommended nominees, and the KMT caucus's survey results all showed that Mr. Cheng was not a suitable candidate. The Alliance nevertheless said it respects the Legislative Yuan's vote and hopes Mr. Cheng will treat civil society's voice as a spur, and that while serving as Grand Justice and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan he will learn from the serious flaws in the executions he approved as Minister of Justice and give greater weight to protecting human rights.

The Alliance also presented a full observation report on the Legislative Yuan's review of the nominees through immediate question-and-answer sessions. According to the team's daily records of legislators' questions and demeanor, the DPP performed best overall, followed by independent legislators, the KMT, and the TSU, with the PFP last. The top ten legislators were, in order: You Ching (DPP), Chiu Tai-san (DPP), Parris Chang (DPP), Su Ying-kuei (Independent), Lin Te-fu (KMT), Lin Yu-sheng (DPP), Lin Chin-hsing (DPP), Cho Po-yuan (KMT), Tsai Chung-han (PFP) and Cheng Yu-chen (Independent) tied for ninth, and Huang Yi-chiao (PFP), Chao Yung-ching (DPP), and Lai Ching-lin (DPP) tied for tenth. Among the bottom ten, last place went to Sisy Chen (PFP), followed in order by Cheng Kuei-lien (DPP), Chiang Chi-wen (KMT), Lee Ching-hua (PFP) and Fu Kun-chi (PFP) tied for fourth from the bottom, Chung Shao-ho (PFP), Chang Tsai-mei (KMT), Hsu Yuan-kuo (PFP), Hsu Shu-po (KMT) and Chao Liang-yen (PFP) tied for eighth from the bottom, Hou Shui-sheng (DPP), and Liu Wen-hsiung (PFP).

Regarding these results, the Alliance believes that DPP legislators, as members of the ruling party, usually would not make the nominees look too "bad," so even when individual legislators did not stand out, their questions and demeanor were rarely egregious. Conversely, when opposition legislators were bent on making nominees "uncomfortable" while their own questions lacked expertise, were overly political, or were asked with a poor attitude, they naturally drew harsher assessments from the observation team. In any case, the Alliance commends the legislators who performed well and encourages those who performed poorly this time to do better.

The Alliance said that this nomination and consent process revealed several institutional shortcomings that should be corrected as soon as possible:

1. Nomination: The controversies arising from the President's nominations under the subparagraphs of Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Judicial Yuan Organization Act (for example, some nominees were not necessarily suited to the subparagraph under which they were nominated) show that the overly rigid provisions of Article 4 truly need to be amended by the Legislative Yuan.
2. Review and consent: Since the Legislative Yuan's review this time, through immediate Q&A in a committee of the whole, could not achieve a professional review, how to amend the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan's Power so that nominees' qualifications are reviewed through specialized committees and hearings should be an urgent issue for the Legislative Yuan.
3. The Legislative Yuan's review should be open to civil society oversight: The Alliance said it cannot accept the Legislative Yuan's exclusion of civil society monitoring groups from the public gallery of the chamber. It questioned why, when the Legislative Yuan even opened the chamber to visiting French senators this morning, it could not allow domestic civil society groups into the gallery. The Alliance therefore strongly urges the Legislative Yuan to promptly amend its rules of procedure and chamber rules so that civil society groups can monitor, in person, its review of nominees and exercise of its consent power.

Overall, the Alliance still considers this nomination and review of the Grand Justices an important lesson in constitutional education. It commends the efforts of all parties and hopes that government and opposition alike will build on this experience so that future reviews of Grand Justice nominations will follow a proper constitutional course.

Attendees

Professor Ku Chung-hwa, Convener of the Alliance / Executive Committee Member, Chen-She
Attorney Wei Chien-feng, President, Taiwan Association for Human Rights
Attorney Huang Kuo-chung, Chair of the Editorial Committee, Taiwan Bar Association
Attorney Hsueh Chin-feng, Executive Director, Taipei Bar Association
Attorney Chen Chuan-yueh, Chairperson, Judicial Reform Foundation