Verdict without Lawsuit

New Justice of the Supreme Court, Tsuneyuki Yamamoto, for some reason revealed his idea on Tuesday that Japan needed to amend the Constitution, if it would want to exercise of collective self-defense right. It is unusual for a Justice, whose job is perceived to be interpreting the Constitution, to refer to a possibility of consitutional amendment. Although he was talking about appropriate argument, making a statement on the issue that was not on the table of the Supreme Court would be criticized as an excessive manner. It can be said as, in other words, a kind of verdict without lawsuit.

It was at the press conference taking an opportunity of introducing new Justice in the Court, when Yamamoto showed his idea on collective self-defense right. “Collective self-defense right is a right to fight with another country with close relationship, when the country is attacked, even if we are not actually attacked,” told Yamamoto in the conference. He explained his personal opinion that reinterpretation of the Constitution to make collective self-defense right exercisable was not so easy. “To exercise collective self-defense right in the expedition to other side of the earth, it is necessary to amend the Constitution, rather than reinterpretation of it,” added Yamamoto.

It was inappropriate for him to reveal his personal opinion before any lawsuit was brought to the Court, because it can give the Cabinet or lawmakers preliminary knowledge on how a Justice would behave on the issue. If Yamamoto’s opinion affects future decision, it should be closer to rule of person, instead of rule of law.

However, the story is not so much about the due process of law. Before taking a seat of the bench of the Supreme Court, Yamamoto has been the Director General of Cabinet Legislation Bureau, the organization which had been keeping its interpretation that Japan could not exercise collective self-defense right along with the restriction of the Constitution. Positive on changing the interpretation, Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, replaced Yamamoto and appointed a preferable diplomat, Ichiro Komatsu, on the post. It was possible that Yamamoto’s statement was an effusion of his frustration.

Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, expressed his strange feeling on Yamamoto’s comment. “A Justice of the Supreme Court is making final decision on constitutionality. It is strange for a Justice to refer to the necessity of constitutional amendment on a public place,” said Suga. Secretary General of Democratic Party of Japan, Akihiro Ohata, appealed the strangeness of Suga’s comment, supporting Yamamoto’s statement. If this issue is escalated to be political dispute, it was Abe who firstly brought a trouble by replacing the director general for his political aim.