"Panel Borrowing Supreme Court Justices for Trials"... Serious Issue of 'Supreme Court Justice Vacancies'

When a Supreme Court Justice of the Sobu Department is incapacitated, other department justices temporarily fill the position
Judicial delays inevitable if Supreme Court justice vacancy occurs in January next year

Concerns are rising that if the successors to Supreme Court Justices Ahn Cheol-sang and Min Yoo-sook, who are retiring as of January 1 next year, are not appointed in time due to the prolonged vacancy in the Chief Justice position, there could be situations where justices from other panels have to be borrowed to fill vacancies in the smaller panels (sobu) where vacancies have occurred.

Supreme Court building.

According to Article 9 (Composition of the Bench in Case of a Justice's Vacancy) of the 'Internal Rules on the Assignment of Supreme Court Cases' on the 20th, if two justices of a bench are absent, the bench shall be composed of the next highest-ranking justice from the following bench. For example, if the successor to Justice Ahn Cheol-sang of the Supreme Court's 3rd Panel is vacant and a case arises where one of the justices No Jeong-hee, Lee Heung-gu, or Oh Seok-jun from that panel must recuse or disqualify themselves, then Justice Kim Seon-su, who is the highest-ranking justice by appointment order in the next panel, the 1st Panel, will be temporarily assigned to the 3rd Panel to hear and deliver judgment. The Supreme Court's smaller panels consist of four justices, and cases can be heard and decided if three or more justices participate.

As of last year, each justice is assigned about 300 cases per month, and if vacancies cause justices from other panels to cover, the backlog of appellate cases is expected to worsen.

A Supreme Court official said, "If one justice is absent and another justice from a different panel covers, the workload that was previously divided among 12 justices becomes divided among 11," adding, "As the number of cases filed for appeal continues to increase, if two justice positions are vacant, the workload per justice increases tenfold, which is expected to cause significant work overload."

A bigger problem is that according to Supreme Court internal rules, Justices Ahn Cheol-sang and Min Yoo-sook, who are about to retire, will not be able to preside over criminal detention cases starting next month, causing a continuous accumulation of criminal cases where defendants are detained. Last year, out of 19,179 criminal cases filed for appeal, 9,657 involved detained defendants. Under the current system of 12 justices in the smaller panels, each justice presides over an average of 67 new detained criminal cases per month, but with only 10 justices, each would have to handle 80 cases.

Problems also arise when the Supreme Court returns to full strength after a prolonged vacancy. If successors are not appointed after justices retire, no cases are assigned to the vacant seats, but once justices are appointed, case assignments are adjusted to maintain fairness among justices, inevitably leading to a concentration of cases on the successors to Justices Ahn Cheol-sang and Min Yoo-sook. Ultimately, if the appointment of justices is delayed due to the vacancy in the Chief Justice position, it is analyzed that the entire appellate court process will be prolonged.

A presiding judge from Panel A said, "During the National Assembly audit, there were many criticisms about the lengthening of case processing times, and if justice seats become vacant, trials will be further delayed," emphasizing, "Appointments must be made swiftly and the appointment process carried out promptly to create conditions where the court can function properly."

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