最高裁国民審査―開かれた選任こそ課題だ

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 26(IHT/Asahi: August 27,2009)
EDITORIAL: Review of top justices
最高裁国民審査―開かれた選任こそ課題だ

Nine of the 15 Supreme Court justices are up for a people's review when voters head to the polls for Sunday's Lower House election. The occasion provides voters with their only opportunity to directly express their approval or disapproval of the current state of the judiciary.
　最高裁裁判官を信認するかどうかを問う国民審査が、総選挙と同時に行われる。司法への信頼を国民が直接表明できる唯一の機会だ。

Amid expectations for a regime change, debate is heating up over the government system.
However, we should also think about the top court's personnel system.
政権選択を機に国や政府の形が議論されている今、最高裁の人事についても考えたい。

The Constitution stipulates that Supreme Court justices are to be "reviewed" by the public, but no one has been dismissed under this system so far.
　憲法に基づく制度だが、これまでに国民審査で辞めさせられた人は一人もいない。

Justices are subject to a review at the time of the first Lower House election after their appointment. Their next review will be during the first Lower House election "after a lapse of 10 years."
審査の対象になるのは任命後に初めて行われる総選挙の時で、次の機会は１０年を経過したあとの総選挙までない。

However, since many justices are older than 60 at the time of their appointment and their mandatory retirement age is 70, there is effectively no second review for anyone. Consequently, justices who come under the review are fairly new to the job.
ところが、就任年齢は通例６０歳を過ぎていて、７０歳の定年までに再度、審査の対象になることは事実上ない。結局、対象の裁判官は就任から間がない人が多くなる。

Of the nine justices up for review this time, five, including Chief Justice Hironobu Takesaki, have never made a decision related to the Constitution, nor have they participated in a Grand Bench ruling that can reverse established precedents.
　今回、対象の９人のうち竹崎長官を含む５人は、まだ一度も違憲判断や判例変更ができる大法廷判決に関与していない。

In short, these justices have too meager a track record, if any, on which the people can form their opinions.
判断の材料が乏しすぎる。

But perhaps the more fundamental problem than the people's review system, which serves no practical purpose, is that Supreme Court justices are appointed behind closed doors.
　いや、国民審査の形骸（けいがい）化より基本的な問題は、彼らが国民からまったく見えない密室の中で選ばれてきていることではあるまいか。

The chief justice is named by the Cabinet and appointed by the emperor. The remaining 14 justices are appointed by the Cabinet. In reality, however, the sitting chief justice picks his successor and recommends his choice to the prime minister, and the Cabinet respects the choice.
　最高裁長官は内閣の指名に基づいて天皇が任命し、１４人の最高裁判事は内閣が任命する。しかし実際は、長官については現職が後任を首相に推薦し、内閣が尊重する。

As for the other justices, the custom is that the Supreme Court picks candidates when a justice who is about to retire is a former judge, while the Cabinet puts together its shortlist of candidates when the retiring justice is a former bureaucrat. That is an accepted practice.
判事については、法律家出身者の後任は最高裁が推薦し、官僚出身者の後任は内閣が候補者を絞る。それが慣例となってきた。

The public is kept completely in the dark about the screening process, and the Cabinet merely announces the result.
　選考過程は一切国民の前に明らかにされず、ある日突然、内閣が「決まりました」と発表するのだ。

Including Takesaki, we have so far had nine consecutive chief justices who were former judges. The backgrounds of other members of the bench are rigidly predetermined, too, with fixed quotas in place for former judges, prosecutors, lawyers, bureaucrats and legal scholars. All these individuals are invariably preceded and succeeded by their peers in their respective professions.
　その結果、最高裁長官は現長官まで９代続いて裁判官出身。判事も裁判官、検察官、弁護士、官僚、法学者の人数枠が固定され、出身母体からの順送り人事となってきた。

The public is not informed of the professional histories of Supreme Court justices, nor why they were chosen. This is the fundamental factor that renders the people's review system a mere formality.
　どんな仕事をしてきた人がどんな理由で選ばれたのか、国民は知らされない。国民審査が形骸化している根本的な原因はこうしたことにある。

Bringing transparency to the selection process is of critical importance if the will of the people is to be reflected in the Supreme Court, which is supposed to protect the Constitution and keep the Diet and the administration in check.
　密室人事を透明にすることは、憲法の番人として国会や政府をチェックする最高裁を、国民的な合意に立って作り上げていくうえで極めて重要だ。

The Justice System Reform Council recommended in its 2001 report that studies be conducted to bring transparency and objectivity to the process of appointing Supreme Court justices.
　司法制度改革審議会も０１年の意見書で、最高裁人事について「選任過程に透明性・客観性を持たせることを検討すべきだ」と提言した。

A reform plan was once presented to the Diet, proposing an advisory panel of jurists, members of both houses of the Diet and academics, who would recommend several candidates for the Cabinet to consider.
　法曹界や衆参両院、学識経験者らで構成する諮問委員会を設け、複数の候補者を内閣に答申する。そんな改革案が国会に提出されたこともあった。

Our elected representatives should be deeply committed to tangible reform. But political parties are apparently not particularly interested, which is most regrettable.
　改革の具体化は、政治が真剣に取り組むべきテーマだ。政党側にこの問題を真剣に取り組もうという気配がないのは、残念としかいいようがない。

The citizen judge system was introduced in May to make the judiciary more open to the people. If the judiciary is to be supported by the public, full disclosure of the process of nominating and appointing the chief and other justices at the top court is now needed. That would give the people enough information on which to form their opinions of justices up for review.
　司法を国民に開かれたものにするため、裁判員裁判が始まった。司法を支える国民的基盤を築くために、最高裁長官と判事の選任過程を公開する。それを通じて、国民審査にも十分な情報を開示することだ。