Japan Press Weekly

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2015 September 16 - 29 [POLITICS]

Ex-top court justice and 75 former lower court judges label war bills unconstitutional

Seventy-five former professional judges appointed to high courts and district courts in Japan on September 15 jointly issued a statement opposing the government-drafted war bills and submitted the statement to the President of the House of Councilors. This is the first time that former judges joined together to express their opinion on political matters.

The statement reads, “The government move to revise the Constitution through new interpretations and to create new security legislation in violation of the Constitution runs counter to constitutionalism and the rule of law which is the very principle of democracy.”

One of initiators of this action, 80-year-old Moriya Katsuhiko, a retired chief justice of the Sendai High Court Akita Branch who now works as a lawyer, said, “ I felt that among court justices, there is an informal atmosphere of staying away from political controversies even after leaving their position. However, I strongly felt that now we have to say something.”

On this day, at a central public hearing held by the Upper House Special Committee on the war bills, former Supreme Court justice Hamada Kunio declared that the bills are unconstitutional.

Past related article:
> All constitutional scholars in parliamentary hearing criticize war legislation as unconstitutional [June 7, 2015]