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.