법관의 제척·기피사유와 최고법원

In Korea, the standards for determining whether a judge should be excluded from a particular case are governed by the provisions of the Civil Procedure Act and the Criminal Procedure Act, which apply to all judges, including Supreme Court Justices. And the provisions of the disqualification for Constitutional Court Justices are almost the same. However, the issue of disqualification and recusal from the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court has recently emerged in Korean society, raising issues of a different dimension than those regarding the disqualification and recusal of lower court judges. This paper briefly examines the relationship between grounds for disqualification and voluntary recusal, and then examines the tension between the duty to sit and the duty to recuse. Furthermore, by referencing the recent debate in the United States regarding the Code of Conduct for Supreme Court Justices, this paper examines the need for different management in the standards for recusal between lower court judges and the highest court justices. In short, considering that the status and function of the Supreme Court and Constitutional Law Court are directly linked to judicial independence and separation of powers, the duty of the Highest Court judges to sit should be further emphasized.