Court Battle Over Controversial Amendments Begins
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.