Constitutional Court to review DPP, Cabinet challenges to 2025 budget

Taipei, Aug. 8 (CNA) Taiwan's Constitutional Court has accepted separate petitions from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Executive Yuan to review the constitutionality of the 2025 central government budget, to which opposition lawmakers made cuts and freezes.

In a statement issued Friday, the Judicial Yuan, Taiwan's top judicial body which oversees the Constitutional Court, said the court had agreed to review the budget cases but did not provide further details.

The DPP legislative caucus and the Cabinet brought the 2025 government budget to court in May, arguing that the cuts ordered by the opposition-controlled Legislature to the budget violate the principle of legal clarity and separation of powers under the Republic of China (Taiwan) Constitution.

The budget was signed into law by President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) in late March.

The petitioners argued that of the NT$207.6 billion (US$6.95 billion) in cuts, the Legislature asked the executive branch to determine which NT$63.6 billion worth of operations would be affected, which they said exposed the Legislature's failure to duly deliberate the budget.

The DPP and Cabinet also contend that the budget cuts impacted the operations of several government agencies, including the Presidential Office, the Cabinet and the Control Yuan, thus usurping the powers of different branches of government.

However, the court's ability to rule on these cases remains uncertain.

The current eight-member court appears unable to hear cases after opposition lawmakers passed a measure last December requiring at least 10 justices for adjudication, while repeatedly blocking Lai's nominees to fill seven vacant seats.

Director-General of the Constitutional Court Yang Hao-ching (楊皓清) told CNA that whether the two petitions, along with another budget-related case brought by the Control Yuan in May, will be consolidated is at the discretion of the justices.

He, nonetheless, declined to comment on questions regarding the progress of the cases the justices have agreed to review.

According to Yang, the Constitutional Court has not issued any ruling since the amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act, which included the 10-member quorum, were passed by the Legislature in December 2024 and signed into law by Lai in January.

The court is still able to accept petitions because the provisions governing that part of the process were not affected by the law revisions, Yang said.