[사설] Constitutional Court of the’Tilted Playground’ Confirmed Again

On the 28th, the Constitutional Court made a constitutional decision on the Higher Officials Criminal Investigation Office Act. The Constitution decided that it was constitutional in the case of adjudication on a constitutional appeal, which stated that the law that established the basis for the establishment and operation of the airlift was contrary to the constitution, including the principle of separation of powers. The Constitution said, “The airlift is an organization belonging to the executive branch headed by the President,” and did not acknowledge concerns about damage to neutrality and infringement of basic rights of the people. However, a number of constitutional scholars said, “The airlift law, which mandates the prosecution to comply with the request for reversal of the case, is highly unconstitutional,” and said they could not agree with the constitutional decision.

It is noteworthy that this constitutional decision was made with the consensus of five judges with pro-government progression among nine constitutional judges. The Constitutional Court Chief Yoo Nam-seok and Judge Moon Hyung-bae, who gave their constitutional opinions, are founding members of the’Korea Law Research Society’, a group of progressive judges, and judges Ki-young Kim and Mi-sun Lee are from the’International Human Rights Law Research Society’, a successor of the Korean Law Research Society. Judge Lee Seok-tae, who served as Chairman Minbyun, also presented a constitutional opinion. Only the other three judges decided that it was unconstitutional, saying, “If the airlift is incorporated into the existing administrative organization, there is a concern that political neutrality and job independence may be damaged.” This is the reason for the reaction of a’predicted decision’ when the constitution gave an indulgence to the promotion of the airlift after 11 months of time off.

The recent decisions made by the Constitutional Court fuel this observation. Last year, the Constitution raised the hand of the ruling party, saying that it was legal to handle the enforcement of the election law, which was raised by the opposition party after making a pro-labor decision on prohibiting teachers from forming or joining political organizations. When the Constitutional Court made several decisions in line with the regime code, it was pointed out that it was a’tilted playground’. Some say that the Democratic Party is an irrational number, but it is also said that the decision to pursue impeachment proceedings against an incumbent judge is due to expectations of a’tilted constitution’. Even the Constitution, the last bastion of the values ​​of the Constitution, cannot but lose the public’s trust if it fails to overcome bias and focuses on a specific faction.

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