Lawmakers do not enjoy a constitutional right to filibuster, a High Court judge ruled as he explained why he refused to review Legislative Council president Tsang Yok-sing's controversial decision to halt a prolonged debate.
Court of First Instance judge Mr Justice Johnson Lam Man-hon also ruled that the Legco president had the power under the Basic Law to take action to ensure the proper running of the council.
Lam was giving reasons for his rejection last week of an application by 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung, a League of Social Democrats legislator, for a judicial review of Tsang's move to invoke for the first time powers in Legco's rules of procedure to halt debate on a bill to curb by-elections after 361/2 hours.
Leung (pictured) wanted the court to impose a temporary injunction freezing Tsang's decision.
'Of course,' Lam wrote, 'one must also safeguard the right of the minority to express their opinions. But it would be absurd to elevate the right to express opinions to a constitutional right to filibuster.'
The judge said the purpose of Leung and his fellow legislators Wong Yuk-man and Albert Chan Wai-yip in debating the 1,300 amendments they proposed was not the proper expression of their views but to debate indefinitely so as to obstruct the lawmaking process.