Japan Press Weekly

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2013 July 3 - 9 [PEACE]

441 young lawyers issue statement opposing constitutional amendment

Young lawyers and scholars of constitutional law on July 2 issued a statement in opposition to a movement to revise Article 96 of the Constitution which they claim would undermine the very essence of constitutionalism. As of July 2, 441 lawyers and 53 scholars have expressed their support for the statement.

The statement points out that the role of constitutional law is, in the first place, to place limits on state power in order to secure people’s rights. It states that if Article 96 is revised and the requirement for constitutional amendment is relaxed from two thirds of approval in both Houses to one half, the state will be able to curtail people’s rights much more easily than it now can.

On the same day, proposers of the statement held a news conference in the Diet building.

Hitotsubashi University Professor Sakaguchi Shojiro, one of the proposers, said that the core of constitutionalism is to prevent the majority from trampling on the rights of the minority. He added, “Young people have stood up against the move to revise the Constitution. It proves that the Constitution and constitutionalism have established firm hold in Japan.”

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5,500 religious figures show approval to pro-constitution statement

Around 5,500 religious figures have indicated their approval to a statement published by a group of people of faith in May which opposes the revision of Article 96 in order to protect Article 9 of the Constitution, the group announced on July 2. They are trying to increase the number of supporters to 10,000 by the end of July.