Hung-Ju Chen

LL.B., Shin Hsin University, Taiwan; LL.M., National Taiwan University; LL.M., University of Illinois

Hung-Ju's supervisor is Professor Lawrence Solum, a noted expert on constitutional law and legal philosophy. His dissertation is a philosophical reflection on the duty to obey the law and civil disobedience in a transitional society. This topic was inspired by his observation of Taiwan's political and legal transformation of the past fifty years.

Before coming to the United States, Hung-Ju was a lecturer on constitutional law and jurisprudence at Shin Hsin University. He was also a social activist, joined the peace movement, initiated the first referendum on Taiwan's weapon purchase policy, coordinated several international symposia, and participated in the social movement against the death penalty. He is currently an academic consultant to Congress Citizen Watch – a Taiwanese legislative watchdog, for which he provides opinions on legislative policy.

By combining his social activism experience with theory, Hung-Ju believes that his research will contribute to a better understanding of legitimate limitations on public authority and help to better define the constitutional meaning of citizens' actions.

Publications:

• Watch Democracy and Watch Congress, 116 Congress Citizen Watch Magazine, pp.25-28 (2010/11/23)

• An Introduction to Basic Concepts in Jurisprudence, Law and Life, pp.1-25 (Shin Hsin University, 2010/06)

• On the Distinction between Friends and Enemies in the Political, Vol. 3 No. 1, Shin Hsin Law Review, pp.74-125 (2009/12)

• The Reflection of the Regulation of the Assembly Right - An Analysis from the Political, Legal, and Intellectual Perspectives, Chinatimes Newspaper (2009/07/16)

• On the Modification of the Assembly Code, Chinatimes Newspaper (2009/06/24)