Vice President Chen Chien-jen presided over a press conference to present four Constitutional Court justice nominees on May 27. The four candidates nominated by President Tsai Ing-wen are Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Lu Tai-liang, Ministry of Examination Minister Tsai Tzung-jen, National Taiwan University College of Law Professor Shieh Ming-yan, and Kaohsiung High Administrative Court Judge Yang Hui-ching. The gender ratio is equal.


The terms of four Constitutional Court justices, Su Chen Beyue, Huang Hsi-chun, Lo Chang-fa, and Dennis Tang, end on Sept. 30. President Tsai Ing-wen has decided on their replacements, and the list was announced by Vice President Chen Chien-jen, who serves as the convener of the justice nomination and review committee, on May 27. Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Lu Tai-liang was on the list, as expected.

The Constitutional Interpretation Procedural Act was promulgated on Jan. 4 this year. It will be implemented once three years have passed since its promulgation, in 2022. This means that in the future, the manner in which justices hear cases will change from meetings to court litigation to usher in a new age for constitutional interpretations.

Lu is a long-time advocate of judicial reform and representative judge, and currently serves as the secretary-general of the Judicial Yuan. The other nominees are National Taiwan University College of Law Professor Shieh Ming-yan, Kaohsiung High Administrative Court President and Judge Yang Hui-ching, and Ministry of Examination Minister Tsai Tzung-jen. The practice of maintaining a balance between judges and scholars was followed, and the gender ratio was also maintained.

(Shieh Ming-yan claimed that National Taiwan University did not educate Ma Ying-jeou well.) I think the most important thing for us to do today is report on how we selected these nominees through the review process. After we deliver the list to the Legislative Yuan, legislators will deliberate the nominees.

During the 2014 Sunflower Student Movement, Shieh claimed that he had failed to teach former President Ma Ying-jeou well. As a result, his nomination was controversial. The list will be sent to the Legislative Yuan, which will exercise its authority over personnel nominations. There are 15 justices on the Constitutional Court. Eight were nominated by Ma and seven by the current president. If the current president's four latest nominees are confirmed, she will hold a majority in the court.



四位大法官陳碧玉、黃璽君、羅昌發、湯德宗任期到9月30日屆滿，總統蔡英文提名繼任人選，由擔任提名審薦小組召集人的副總統陳建仁宣布名單，機關推薦的司法院祕書長呂太郎，也如預期獲得提名。

副總統 陳建仁表示：「憲法訴訟法在今年一月四日公布，公布後三年111年的時候，會開始實施，所以未來大法官審理案件，會從會議的模式，轉型為會議訴訟模式，讓釋憲制度能夠展開新紀元。」

呂太郎是早期推動司法改革代表性法官，也是司法院發言人，法界對於入選並不意外，另外還有台大法律系教授謝銘洋，高雄高等行政法院法官兼院長楊惠欽，考選部長蔡宗珍，維持2實務2學者的平衡，也維持男女比例。

副總統 陳建仁表示：「(你有說，台大沒有把馬英九教好？) 我想我們今天最主要跟各位，報告的是有關於被提名人，在審薦過程當中我們怎樣遴選出來這些被提名人，未來我們咨文送到立法院以後，他們會在立法院接受立法委員審議。」

台大法律系教授謝銘洋之前在太陽花學運時曾說沒把前總統馬英九教好，這次獲得提名也格外引起關注，名單也將送立法院行使人事同意權，目前大法官15人，由前總統馬英九提名的八人，總統蔡英文提名的七人，如果這次提名4人通過，由蔡總統提名的大法官也將過半，超越馬前總統。