Court rejects damages claim over Koizumi's Yasukuni visits

Court rejects damages claim over Koizumi's Yasukuni visits

TAKAMATSU, Japan - Plaintiffs and their lawyers in a lawsuit over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Tokyo's war-related Yasukuni Shrine speak at a news conference Oct. 5. They expressed dissatisfaction with a Takamatsu High Court ruling rejecting their compensation demands without ruling on the visits' constitutionality.

Top court rules in favor of claim by eligible voters living abroad

Top court rules in favor of claim by eligible voters living abroad

TOKYO, Japan - The Grand Bench of the Supreme Court is in session on Sept. 14 to rule on the constitutionality of the nation's public election law, which restricts the voting rights of Japanese citizens living overseas. The top court ruled that the law is unconstitutional.

Group sues state over resident-registry network system

Group sues state over resident-registry network system

TOKYO, Japan - Toru Yuge, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on July 26 after he and other members of his group filed a suit against the state over the nationwide resident-registry network to be launched Aug. 5. The group is challenging the constitutionality of the system, which will label all individuals with an 11-digit number and circulate personal information among administrative organizations.

Estrada says he doubts legality of new presidency

Estrada says he doubts legality of new presidency

MANILA, Philippines - Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada (file photo) said Jan. 20 he is leaving the presidential palace. He said in a statement issued after Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was sworn in as president that he doubts the ''constitutionality'' of Arroyo's inauguration.

Top court rules in favor of claim by eligible voters living abro

Top court rules in favor of claim by eligible voters living abro

TOKYO, Japan - The Grand Bench of the Supreme Court is in session on Sept. 14 to rule on the constitutionality of the nation's public election law, which restricts the voting rights of Japanese citizens living overseas. The top court ruled that the law is unconstitutional. (Kyodo)

Group sues state over resident-registry network system

Group sues state over resident-registry network system

TOKYO, Japan - Toru Yuge, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on July 26 after he and other members of his group filed a suit against the state over the nationwide resident-registry network to be launched Aug. 5. The group is challenging the constitutionality of the system, which will label all individuals with an 11-digit number and circulate personal information among administrative organizations. (Kyodo)

No judgment on Japanese forced labor agreement from S. Korean court

No judgment on Japanese forced labor agreement from S. Korean court

South Korean lawyers and bereaved family members of victims of forced labor during Japan's colonial rule of Korea speak to reporters in front of the Constitutional Court after the court refused to hear a petition on the constitutionality of the 1965 Korea-Japan agreement that Japan claims settled all issues of individual compensation to the victims. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

No judgment on Japanese forced labor agreement from S. Korean court

No judgment on Japanese forced labor agreement from S. Korean court

Lee Yoon Jae (R), whose father was drafted as a forced laborer during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, speaks to reporters in front of the Constitutional Court after the court refused to hear a petition on the constitutionality of the 1965 Korea-Japan agreement that Japan claims settled all issues of individual compensation to victims of forced labor. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

No judgment on Japanese forced labor agreement from S. Korean court

No judgment on Japanese forced labor agreement from S. Korean court

Judges of South Korea's Constitutional Court sit in court in Seoul on Dec. 23, 2015, before ruling on the constitutionality of the 1965 Korea-Japan agreement that Japan claims settled all issues of individual compensation to victims of forced labor during Japan's colonial rule of Korea. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Lawyers to challenge constitutionality of security laws

Lawyers to challenge constitutionality of security laws

A group of legal experts attend a press conference in Tokyo on Dec. 21, 2015, announcing that they will file lawsuits across the country arguing that the newly enacted security laws violate Japan's war-renouncing Constitution. Kazuhiro Terai (C in front row), co-head of the group, said, "Unreasonable acts by the Cabinet and the Diet are not permissible under the Constitution." (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Top court gives mixed constitutionality judgments on marriage rules

Top court gives mixed constitutionality judgments on marriage rules

The Supreme Court rules in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2015, that a legal provision forcing married couples to use the same surname is constitutional, while it found another rule prohibiting women from remarrying for six months unconstitutional. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Top court to judge constitutionality of century-old marriage rules

Top court to judge constitutionality of century-old marriage rules

Photo shows Japan's Supreme Court in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2015, shortly before it gives a ruling on the constitutionality of century-old legal provisions forcing married couples to use the same surname and prohibiting only women from remarrying for six months. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Top court to judge constitutionality of century-old marriage rules

Top court to judge constitutionality of century-old marriage rules

People line up outside the Supreme Court in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2015, for gallery seats in high-profile cases over the constitutionality of century-old legal provisions forcing married couples to use the same surname and prohibiting only women from remarrying for six months. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Top court to judge constitutionality of century-old marriage rules

Top court to judge constitutionality of century-old marriage rules

Photo shows Japan's Supreme Court in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2015, shortly before it gives a ruling on the constitutionality of century-old legal provisions forcing married couples to use the same surname and prohibiting only women from remarrying for six months. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Top court questions constitutionality of 2014 election

Top court questions constitutionality of 2014 election

Japan's Supreme Court rules in Tokyo on Nov. 25, 2015, that the result of the 2014 House of Representatives election was "in a state of unconstitutionality" due to disparities in the weight of votes between constituencies. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Top court questions constitutionality of 2014 election

Top court questions constitutionality of 2014 election

The Supreme Court rules in Tokyo on Nov. 25, 2015, that the result of the 2014 House of Representatives election was "in a state of unconstitutionality" due to disparities in the weight of votes between constituencies. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Top court questions constitutionality of 2014 election

Top court questions constitutionality of 2014 election

Lawyers speak to reporters in Tokyo on Nov. 25, 2015, after the Supreme Court ruled that the result of the 2014 House of Representatives election was "in a state of unconstitutionality" due to disparities in the weight of votes between constituencies. The lawyers filed a series of lawsuits across Japan against vote disparities of up to 2.13-fold in the election. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Party leaders debate on constitutionality of security bills

Party leaders debate on constitutionality of security bills

Combination photo shows (from L) Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, main opposition Democratic Party of Japan leader Katsuya Okada, Innovation Party leader Yorihisa Matsuno and Japanese Communist Party leader Kazuo Shii during a Diet debate among party leaders in Tokyo on June 17, 2015. They focused mainly on the constitutionality of security bills that would expand Japan's defense capabilities. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Another court ruling questions constitutionality of 2014 election

Another court ruling questions constitutionality of 2014 election

Lawyers meet with reporters in front of the Okayama branch of the Hiroshima High Court in the western Japanese city of Okayama on April 28, 2015, after the court ruled that the results of the 2014 House of Representatives election were "in a state of unconstitutionality" due to disparities in the weight of votes between constituencies. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Court ruling questions constitutionality of 2014 election

Court ruling questions constitutionality of 2014 election

Plaintiffs' lawyers hold a banner in front of the Sapporo High Court in the major northern Japanese city of Sapporo on April 24, 2015, after the court ruled that the last general election was "in a state of unconstitutionality" due to disparities in the weight of votes between constituencies, but it rejected the plaintiffs' demand to nullify the poll results. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Another court ruling questions constitutionality of 2014 election

Another court ruling questions constitutionality of 2014 election

Plaintiffs' lawyers hold a banner in front of the Sendai High Court in northeastern Japan on April 9, 2015, after the court ruled that the last general election was "in a state of unconstitutionality" due to disparities in the weight of votes between constituencies, but it rejected the plaintiffs' demand to nullify the poll results. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Another court ruling questions constitutionality of 2014 election

Another court ruling questions constitutionality of 2014 election

Photo shows a courtroom at the Sendai High Court in northeastern Japan on April 9, 2015, shortly before the court ruled that the last general election was "in a state of unconstitutionality" due to disparities in the weight of votes between constituencies, but it rejected the plaintiffs' demand to nullify the poll results. (Pool photo by Kyodo News)(Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Man ordered to pay fine in Sunagawa case raps security reforms

Man ordered to pay fine in Sunagawa case raps security reforms

Gentaro Tsuchiya, who was convicted of trespassing on a U.S. base in Tokyo decades ago and is requesting a retrial, meets the press in Tokyo on June 18, 2015. Tsuchiya said the government is "abusing" the 1959 Supreme Court ruling on the so-called Sunagawa incident by citing it as a basis of the constitutionality of security bills that would allow Japan to engage in collective self-defense. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Court rejects damages claim over Koizumi's Yasukuni visits

Court rejects damages claim over Koizumi's Yasukuni visits

TAKAMATSU, Japan - Plaintiffs and their lawyers in a lawsuit over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Tokyo's war-related Yasukuni Shrine speak at a news conference Oct. 5. They expressed dissatisfaction with a Takamatsu High Court ruling rejecting their compensation demands without ruling on the visits' constitutionality. (Kyodo)

S. Korean court declines to rule on comfort women deal with Japan

S. Korean court declines to rule on comfort women deal with Japan

Photo taken Dec. 27, 2019, shows South Korea's Constitutional Court in Seoul. The court later in the day declined to rule on the constitutionality of a 2015 deal with Japan that aimed to financially help Korean women who were forced to work in the Japanese military's wartime brothels and dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of plaintiffs consisting of former comfort women and their family members. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Estrada says he doubts legality of new presidency

Estrada says he doubts legality of new presidency

MANILA, Philippines - Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada (file photo) said Jan. 20 he is leaving the presidential palace. He said in a statement issued after Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was sworn in as president that he doubts the ''constitutionality'' of Arroyo's inauguration.