Constitutional Questions in South Korea
I do not know the first thing about the Constitution of South Korea. But this report from the New York Times reads like an exam fact pattern.
First, the acting President refuses to make appointments to the constitutional court. And the opposition government seeks to impeach the acting president for failing to make those appointments.
Opposition lawmakers in South Korea were planning to vote on Friday to impeach the prime minister and acting president, Han Duck-soo, the latest turn in a political crisis that has created a power vacuum in the country.
Mr. Han had been made acting president just earlier this month, after the National Assembly impeached and suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol on Dec. 14 for putting the country under military rule for the first time in 45 years.
Now, barely two weeks into Mr. Han’s tenure as acting president, the main opposition party has filed a motion for his impeachment as well. The move came after Mr. Han refused on Thursday to appoint three judges to fill vacancies in the Constitutional Court, the body that will be deciding whether to reinstate or remove Mr. Yoon.
This is almost like the Merrick Garland scenario in reverse. But instead of the Senate refusing to give Garland a hearing, the Acting President is refusing to make the appointment.
Second, does the Acting President have the duty to fill the vacancies? At least in our system, the President is under no obligation at all to make an appointment. He can just leave the office open. I can’t speak to the Korean system.
Third, does the Acting President have the power to fill the vacancies?
The opposition has pushed for Mr. Han to sign off on nominees to fill the bench in the nation’s highest court, but Mr. Yoon’s governing party has argued that only an elected president has the power to appoint justices. . . .
Mr. Han said in a televised address that he would hold off on appointing the nominees until the rival parties — that is, Mr. Yoon’s People Power Party and the opposition bloc comprising the Democratic Party and other smaller parties — came to an agreement on whether he had the authority to do so as the
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