Taiwan's Cabinet, president and government watchdog are among the plaintiffs asking the Constitutional Court to grant an injunction on controversial new powers the legislature has voted to give itself.
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00:00The 15 justices of the Constitutional Court have a bitter dispute to resolve.
00:05The opposition-controlled legislature has voted to give itself several new powers.
00:09These include the power to invite the president to give them an annual address followed by questions.
00:14And there's also the power to make officials testify with fines or jail time if they refuse or don't give out information.
00:20Opponents, who say these powers erode democracy, have rallied in Taipei.
00:24And now they're taking legal action, too.
00:27The executive branch, controlled by the ruling DPP, is among those asking the court to put an emergency brake on these new powers.
00:34But lawmakers haven't actually tried to use many of them yet.
00:38So the first question is whether they should hear arguments based on hypotheticals, what lawmakers might do.
00:58And there's also the question of whether these new powers warrant urgent action.
01:17Whatever the justices decide, debate over whether these new legislative powers are constitutional doesn't end there.
01:24The battle over whether to freeze the powers temporarily is just the first move in what promises to be a lengthy legal battle.
01:31Alex Chen and John Van Triest for Taiwan Plus.