Taipei Times
Date: Oct 04, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter
Council of Grand Justices nominees should be required to explain their positions on constitutional
New Power Party legislators yesterday announce their proposed questions for nominees for the Council of Grand Justices nominees at a news conference at Legislative Yuan in Taipei. Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
issues, New Power Party (NPP) lawmakers said yesterday, promising to question the nominees about same-sex marriage, gender equality and other topics.
“In the past, the review of grand justice nominees has often been reduced to a formality, but we feel that the new legislature should do things differently,” NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said, laying out a detailed questionnaire covering topics such as same-sex marriage, Aboriginal rights, gender equality and religion.
The party’s questionnaires for the nominees for president and vice president of the Judicial Yuan — who are also grand justices — also include issues such as evaluating and replacing judges, the necessity of a special labor court and the legal separation of judges and public prosecutors.
“Future members of the Council of Grand Justices are extremely important because there are many important political and social reforms that could end up in their hands,” NPP caucus convener Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said. “This is not just a test — we hope it will highlight their values.” [FULL STORY]
