Constitutional Court Dismisses Multiple Opposition Party's Authority Disputes on 'Fast-Track Processing'... "Substitution in Special Committee on Criminal Law Reform is Lawful" (Comprehensive)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Last year, during the deliberation process of the prosecution reform bills, the Constitutional Court dismissed or rejected all the jurisdictional dispute petitions filed by the Liberty Korea Party (the predecessor of the United Future Party).

First, on the 27th, the Constitutional Court dismissed the jurisdictional dispute case filed by Oh Shin-hwan, then a member of the Bareunmirae Party (now the United Future Party), against Moon Hee-sang, the Speaker of the National Assembly, with a 5-4 decision (dismissal and acceptance).

The Constitutional Court stated, "The replacement of the committee members in this case was an exercise of the National Assembly's autonomy to facilitate the smooth operation of the Special Committee on Judicial Reform and to increase the possibility of national policy decisions regarding judicial reform," adding, "It is difficult to conclude that the restriction on the principle of free delegation clearly exceeds constitutional interests."

It further said, "The replacement of committee members is not considered to violate the principle of free delegation nor does it violate the National Assembly Act, so it cannot be seen as infringing on Oh's rights to deliberate and vote on bills," and "The replacement of committee members in this case cannot be considered invalid."

A jurisdictional dispute is a system where state agencies or local governments request the Constitutional Court to interpret the constitution and adjudicate to determine the presence or scope of authority when there is a dispute between them.

On April 25 last year, Oh, who was a member of the Special Committee on Judicial Reform from the Bareunmirae Party, lost his position as a committee member by Speaker Moon's decision, who was requested by Kim Kwan-young, then the leader of the Bareunmirae Party.

Instead, Speaker Moon appointed Chae Yi-bae to the Special Committee seat previously held by Oh for the Bareunmirae Party. Oh filed a jurisdictional dispute with the Constitutional Court, claiming that Speaker Moon's action infringed on his rights to deliberate and decide on bills.

Speaker Moon argued that replacing Oh, who expressed views contrary to the party line at the time, with Chae was inevitable to fulfill the agreement among the four ruling and opposition parties and did not violate the Constitution, the National Assembly Act, or Oh's rights to deliberate and vote on bills.

The Constitutional Court also held a public hearing on this case on February 13.

Regarding the judgment on the replacement of Kwon Eun-hee with Im Jae-hoon, who were from the same party at the time, the Constitutional Court unanimously decided to dismiss the case.

The claim that the related bills were not properly proposed because they were submitted through the electronic legislative proposal system was also dismissed.

In April last year, the four ruling and opposition parties, excluding the Liberty Korea Party, proposed related bills using the electronic legislative proposal system, and the opposition party responded with a jurisdictional dispute petition.

The petition claiming that the Special Committee on Judicial Reform and the Special Committee on Political Reform were unilaterally convened without agreement between the secretaries, thus violating the Constitution, was also dismissed.

In April last year, the National Assembly's Special Committee on Judicial Reform and the Special Committee on Political Reform designated prosecution reform bills, including the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office, and election system-related bills as fast-track agenda items, respectively. Liberty Korea Party members opposed, arguing that the Special Committee on Judicial Reform and the Special Committee on Political Reform were unilaterally convened without agreement between the secretaries.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.