Most legislative investigative power measures ruled unconstitutional

Taipei, Oct. 25 (CNA) The Constitutional Court has ruled that most of the amendments passed by the Legislature related to legislative oversight of the executive branch of government are "unconstitutional," including those that would have given legislators broader investigative powers.

The ruling dealt a blow to opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) lawmakers, who used their combined majority in the Legislature to push through the amendments to the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan's Power and the Criminal Code on May 28.

On Friday, the Constitutional Court deemed unconstitutional revisions that permit investigative committees in the Legislature to request information from officials, military personnel and representatives of public or private entities.

The court, however, did not shut down the idea of the Legislature setting up committees to conduct investigations, but allowed legislators only to look into matters "significantly related to specific proposals" that fall within their powers endowed by the Constitution.

Measures allowing the Legislature to impose penalties on individuals who refuse to hand over information or attend hearings, or those who give false testimony, were also overturned by the ruling, effectively immediately upon its issuance.

The court also ruled against measures obliging the president to give a state of the nation address on the legislative floor and then take questions from lawmakers, saying such arrangements should be decided through negotiations between the president and the lawmaking body.

Friday's ruling was not surprising, given that it aligned closely with the court's injunction issued on July 19, which already halted the enforcement of many of the amendments that went into effect on June 26.

The case was brought by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德), the Executive Yuan, and the Control Yuan nearly four months ago.