Opposition pushes justice term extensions to sway court

Apr 01, 2025, 11:05 am

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Chairman Park Chan-dae strikes the gavel at the Steering Committee plenary meeting held at the National Assembly on March 31, 2025. Members of the ruling People Power Party did not attend the meeting./ Photographed by Song Eui-joo

AsiaToday reporter Nam Mi-kyung

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP), which had pressured the appointment of Constitutional Court Justice Ma Eun-hyuk and even hinted at re-impeaching Acting President Han Deok-soo, is pushing forward with an amendment to the Constitutional Court Act that includes extending the terms of Justices Mun Hyung-bae and Lee Mi-sun, which is considered contrary to the spirit of the Constitution. Public criticism is mounting over the opposition party's alleged misuse of legislative authority for political gain.

According to the legal community on Monday, the DP submitted an amendment to the Constitutional Court Act to the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee plenary meeting. The amendment primarily includes extending the term of Constitutional Court justices by six months if successors are not appointed. This bill was proposed by DP lawmaker Lee Seong-yoon in January. The opposition party plans to immediately refer the amendment to the first subcommittee for legislation and pass it in the plenary meeting on Tuesday.

Such attempts have been made in the past. In 2012, Democratic United Party lawmaker Lee Chun-seok proposed a similar bill, but it failed to pass due to constitutional controversy.

The DP’s actions are interpreted as an attempt to influence the Constitutional Court's decision to dismiss President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment trial with a 5-to-3 rejection. When the threat of re-impeachment against Acting President Han did not work, the opposition party is now trying to extend the terms of Justices Mun and Lee to lead the impeachment decision to dismissal, according to prevailing public opinion.

Although the DP has been eagerly anticipating President Yoon's impeachment, opinions within and outside the Constitutional Court are divided into five in favor of impeachment and three against or dismissing it, making the '5-to-3 deadlock theory' more convincing. With a warning light on Lee Jae-myung's stable presidential campaign path, the DP is politically calculating to extend the terms of progressive Justices Mun and Lee, whose terms end on April 18, to influence the ruling in favor of impeachment and pressure the Constitutional Court.

If the amendment passes, even if President Yoon's ruling is delayed, the terms of the two justices will be extended, allowing them to continue deliberations, and Ma Eun-hyuk's candidacy will automatically be confirmed. The DP’s intention is to create a 9-member system with a composition of five progressives, two moderate conservatives, and two conservatives.

The legal community criticizes the DP for pursuing an unconstitutional law solely for political gain. Furthermore, even if the term extension law passes the National Assembly, the possibility of actual term extension is low, according to the legal community's general opinion. It is widely expected that Acting President Han will exercise his veto (request for reconsideration) on the amendment, making the possibility of extending the terms of the two justices slim.

Professor Jang Young-soo of Korea University's Graduate School of Law criticized, "The DP, desperate for the reality of dismissal, is rushing the amendment without considering legal legitimacy, as if abusing impeachment." He added, "It is an extremely unconstitutional idea."

Attorney Lee Heon stated, "The terms of the president, lawmakers, and Constitutional Court justices are defined in the Constitution," and added, "The DP’s behavior of forcibly amending the law for its own party's benefit should not be tolerated."

#DP #constitutional court #justices