TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) approved amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act on Thursday while noting his concerns about the impacts they may have.
Lai’s spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement the president promulgated the amendments after they passed a third reading in December. Kuo said the Cabinet sent the amendments back to the legislature for review in early January, but lawmakers voted to maintain the original changes.
In the statement, Lai said the amendments “may undermine the normal operations of the Constitutional Court, the scope of judicial power, the separation of powers, and checks and balances in the government system.” Lai said the Constitutional Court should consider the constitutionality of the changes.
The changes raise the threshold for the court to sit to 10 justices and the support of at least two-thirds of the 15 justices (10 votes) is now required to make a ruling. Previously at least two-thirds of incumbent justices were required to be present and a ruling required the support of the majority of justices.

DPP Caucus Leader Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) and other DPP legislators gathered outside the Constitutional Court in opposition to the amendments on Thursday morning, per LTN. Ker said the DPP caucus believes the changes are unconstitutional and he submitted information to supplement the party's initial request for interpretation made last week.
The KMT responded to Lai and the DPP's challenges by calling the party a “giant baby,” per UDN. It said the DPP should understand the ruling party is in the minority and the opposition is in the majority, and it is not necessary to file constitutional lawsuits after losing legislative votes.
The KMT pointed to a poll that showed up to 50% of the public supported and 29% opposed the changes. It said that Lai’s proposal to seek constitutional interpretation of the amendments was out of touch with public opinion.

The KMT voted through the amendments with the support of the TPP. The TPP initially opposed the amendments but voted to pass them on the third reading after negotiating certain changes.
Multiple protests were staged attempting to prevent the amendments late last year, including a 2,000-strong march which around 150 lawyers attended. Protesters said they feared the changes would prevent the court from operating for long periods.
KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲), who proposed the amendments, responded that this would be an acceptable outcome. She reasoned that preventing the court’s justices from making decisions would be better than allowing them to make bad ones.