Moon Hyung-bae and Lee Mi-sun, constitutional court justices, retired on the 18th after completing their six-year terms. The two were listed as justices in the decision to impeach former President Yoon Suk-yeol. Justice Moon Hyung-bae, who served as acting chief justice, stated in his farewell speech, "Respect for the Constitutional Court's decisions is necessary."
The Constitutional Court held a farewell ceremony for the two justices at 11 a.m. in the large auditorium. Moon Hyung-bae and Lee Mi-sun were appointed by former President Moon Jae-in in April 2019. As the appointment process for their successors is currently stalled, the court will operate with seven justices for the time being. Earlier, Acting President Han Duck-soo nominated candidates Lee Wan-kyu and Ham Sang-hoon, but the court recently granted an injunction to suspend the effectiveness of the nominations.
Justice Moon noted in his farewell speech, "While scholarly criticism of the Constitutional Court's decisions should naturally be allowed, personal attacks such as ad hominem arguments should be avoided." He continued, "In presidential systems, it is often said that when conflicts escalate between the president and the National Assembly and political resolutions through dialogue and compromise are undermined, there are no mechanisms to resolve such deadlocks."
He stated, "However, according to the design of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, the Constitutional Court can pave the way to resolve deadlocks by making factually and substantively sound decisions in procedures like conflicts of authority and having constitutional institutions respect these decisions." He added, "The path of the Constitution, based on checks and balances, will be further solidified by respect for the decisions of the Constitutional Court."
Justice Moon also mentioned, "To avoid falling into the trap of groupthink, diversification of the composition of justices is necessary to review issues from various perspectives." He continued, "We should open avenues for constitutional researchers or professors with extensive practical experience in constitutional law to become justices." Currently, all constitutional court justices are former judges.
He also said, "Deeper dialogue is necessary among justices, between the bench and the research department, and between current justices and past justices." Justice Moon stated, "Dialogue includes the process of listening to others' opinions and the reflective process of modifying one's own opinion after listening."
Justice Lee Mi-sun expressed, "While working as a constitutional court justice, I felt that there is a heavy scale in my heart." She added, "I pondered whether I was properly balancing the scale with each case, and at times worried whether the place where the scale was set was not tilted."
She continued, "There were tough days when my heart was weighed down by that scale, but I worked to ensure that the function of constitutional adjudication, which guarantees citizens' fundamental rights and upholds constitutional order, could be realized while guarding against leaning to one side."