Lawyers march in protest against Constitutional Court bill

Taipei, Nov. 16 (CNA) Over 100 lawyers took to the streets in Taipei Saturday to protest an amendment bill to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act that critics claim could "cripple" the operations of the Constitutional Court.

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The amendment in question was proposed by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) to raise the threshold of Constitutional Court rulings, making a minimum of 10 justices necessary to preside over a Constitutional Court, while a ruling would require the support of at least two-thirds of the 15 justices (10 votes).

The current law stipulates that at least two-thirds of incumbent justices be present and that a ruling requires the support of the majority of justices.

At a press conference on Nov. 12, lawyer Jacob Lin (林俊宏), one of the initiators of the march, argued that the amendment bill would make it difficult for justices to rule on Constitutional Court cases, and thus "crippling" the court's operations and "restricting" the public's access to rulings in cases where they believe their rights have been violated.

Before the march officially began, hundreds of supporters came together with the lawyers at Taipei's Xiangyang Street, shouting slogans rejecting the "crippling" of the Constitutional Court, and calling for the protection of the peoples' rights and defending the separation of powers.

Lin, backed by more than 150 lawyers, answered media questions at a press conference before the march.

In response to KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling's (翁曉玲) -- the main sponsor of the bill -- assertion that the participating lawyers were mainly supporters of President Lai Ching-te (賴清德), Lin said even if this were true, the main point was whether the amendments were unconstitutional.

He also said that Weng had a pattern of identifying anyone who opposed her as "flanks" of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), without substantial discussions about the contents of the bill and reasonable communication.

On the other hand, opposition Taiwan People's Party (TPP) lawmaker Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) stated on Friday that there should be a minimum required number of justices present when ruling a law unconstitutional, with reference to international legislation models.

In response, Lin noted that those legislations also had mechanisms to prevent crippling the Constitutional Court.

For example, in Germany, when not enough justices are present at a Constitutional Court meeting, they would have outgoing justices stay in office temporarily, Lin said, adding that in some countries, appointed judges will become justices to continue hearing the case.

Lin said that the KMT's bill did not include such supporting measures, which he believed was to purposefully disrupt the operations of the Constitutional Court.

In addition to the march, participants also gathered near the Legislative Yuan, where scholars and lawyers gave brief talks.

Saturday's event attracted more than 2,000 people and 300 lawyers, according to lawyer groups.

Former justice Huang Hung-hsia (黃虹霞) spoke at the gathering, saying she would vote the amendment "unconstitutional" if it was passed.

She added that the justices must seek a balance of powers, with only the Constitution in mind while keeping the people's rights in the center.