Editorial: Anticipating a Renewed Push for ‘Citizens Suing Officials’

The ability for citizens to take officials to court is back in the public eye now that China’s legislature has terminated its review of a draft amendment that had been criticized for potentially making it harder to sue the government.

The revision to the Administrative Litigation Law had sought to move four types of cases from being initially heard by the intermediate courts to first being tried in lower-level district and county courts, as tested out in pilot program launched by the Supreme People’s court in October 2021.