The Council of Grand Justices yesterday announced a constitutional interpretation that switching judges in former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) case was not unconstitutional, dealing a serious blow to the former president and his supporters.

The Council of Grand Justices reasoned that the method the Taipei District Court used to combine corruption and money laundering cases was in agreement with the Constitution’s protection of a defendant’s litigation rights because it was conducted according to the law and through a committee of five judges, said Hsieh Wen-ting (謝文定), spokesperson for the Judicial Yuan.