Taiwan's Constitutional Court strikes down amended court procedure act

Taipei, Dec. 19 (CNA) The Constitutional Court on Friday struck down opposition-backed legislation that had effectively paralyzed the operations of the country's top court for nearly a year, clearing the way for it to resume hearings and rule on cases.

However, the decision to revoke the amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act is controversial, as three of the court's eight sitting justices publicly denounced it.

Friday's ruling was handed down with the support of the remaining five justices who participated in discussions on the case, without the oral arguments typically featured in high-stakes deliberations or a public hearing to announce the decision.

At a news conference later the same day, Constitutional Court Secretary-General Hsu Pi-hui (許碧惠) said the court ruled unconstitutional the amendments that required a minimum of 10 justices for adjudication and that an unconstitutional ruling be backed by at least nine justices.

The amendments brought the Constitutional Court, which usually has 15 justices but currently only eight after seven stepped down on Oct. 31, 2024 at the end of their eight-year terms, to a standstill.

In the meantime, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government's attempts to fill the vacancies have been rejected twice by lawmakers from the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People's Party (TPP) at the Legislature, first in December 2024 and again in July 2025.

Citing the ruling, Hsu said the Legislature ought to have "supporting measures" to prevent the number of justices from falling below the quorum and blocking the court from continued operations.

By adopting the legislation, which took effect on Jan. 25, two days after President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) signed it into law, at a time when the court has only eight justices, the Legislature "severely obstructed" justices from performing their duties and "violated the constitutional principle of separation of powers," she said.

The ruling also said the amendments should be rendered void, as the deliberation leading up to the legislation contained "obvious and significant defects."

However, in a separate statement, the three dissenting justices -- namely Tsai Tzung-jen (蔡宗珍), Yang Hui-chin (楊惠欽) and Ju Fu-meei (朱富美) -- denounced the ruling as "invalid."

They argued that the issue at stake was not whether there is sufficient reasoning in the judgment but whether the court is lawfully constituted.

"The ultimate solution lies in filling the vacancies of the justices in accordance with constitutional procedures, rather than overturning current legislation through illegal and unconstitutional means," they added in the statement issued on Friday.

Facing repeated media questions, Hsu stressed that the ruling was "clearly legitimate" even though the three justices refused to take part in the case, a situation she described as "extremely exceptional."

To ensure the Constitutional Court can continue functioning and that the justices can perform their duties, the three justices were not counted toward the total number of justices presiding over the case, she said.

Opposition parties were quick to criticize the ruling.

KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲), the main sponsor of the amendments, called it "the darkest day in the constitutional history of the Republic of China (Taiwan's official name)."

Even under the provisions before the amendment, at least six justices must take part in the deliberation of a case, with a ruling backed by half of them, Weng said, adding that Friday's ruling was "unconstitutional and unlawful."

On the other hand, the DPP, which brought the legislation to the Constitutional Court after failing to stop it, lauded the decision.

The ruling party said it would restore the people's right to seek legal remedies from the top court.