In news from and about Taiwan this morning,

President Lai Ching-te has signed off on amended legislation that tightens
requirements for petitions used to initiate the recall of elected officials.

Lai's signing off on the amendments to the Public Officials Election And
Recall Act comes after lawmakers voted to uphold the legislation following a
re-vote requested by the Cabinet last week.

The amendments were proposed by the K-M-T and had the back of the Taiwan
People's Party.

The D-P-P says it is preparing to petition the Constitutional Court to rule
on the constitutionality of the amended law.

However, the party has not explained how the government will go about seeking
such a ruling from the Constitutional Court ..

... as the newly amended Constitutional Court Procedure Act mandates that a
minimum of 10 justices hear and rule on a case, with an unconstitutional
ruling to be supported by at least nine justices.

The court currently has only eight Grand Justices as the Legislative Yuan has
declined to approve a new slate of judicial nominations peesented by Lai in
December.