Civic Groups Worried About Constitutional Court Stalemate

TaiwanPlus News

New amendments to the way Taiwan's Constitutional Court operates threaten to paralyze the country's highest court, something that has civic groups worried.

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00:00Taiwan's legislature recently pushed through amendments to change the way the country's

00:06constitutional court operates.

00:08Under current rules, the constitutional court needs two-thirds of sitting justices to be

00:13present in order for a case to be heard.

00:16And rulings can be determined by a simple majority of the justices in attendance.

00:22The legislature's new rules mean at least 10 justices must attend a case, and 9 of those

00:28must agree when they rule something unconstitutional.

00:32Taiwan's constitutional court normally has 15 sitting justices.

00:36But because of term limits, 7 seats are currently vacant, leaving only 8 seats filled.

00:42That means Taiwan's constitutional court does not meet the minimum threshold for justices

00:47to hear cases, leaving the system deadlocked.

00:51President Lai Ching-teh of the Democratic Progressive Party has appointed new justices

00:56to fill the vacancies.

00:58But the opposition-controlled legislature, which must confirm the nominations, has stalled

01:03proceedings, saying that Lai's picks are too partisan.

01:07Civic groups are now bringing attention to the stalemate and are sounding the alarm.

01:12The constitutional court is scheduled to rule on limitations in sexual abuse cases dating

01:17back to 2006.

01:20The Justice Ministry estimates that over the past decade, there have been nearly 700 cases

01:25of child sexual abuse that have gone unanswered because of Taiwan's 20-year statute of limitation

01:31restrictions.

01:56While the reform saga plays out, there are real victims on the sidelines waiting for

02:05a ruling.

02:06Without Taiwan's constitutional court functioning as it needs to, the judiciary will be unable

02:11to answer some of the biggest questions facing society.

02:15Ryan Woo and Leslie Liao for Taiwan Plus.

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