Legislation concerning the appointment of associate justices for the student court was controversially withdrawn during last week’s meeting of the Student Government Association.
The bill required that the chief justice interview associate justice applicants and report his or her findings to the Senate for confirmation or denial.
“I feet it is important to insure that the chief justice has at least some say as to who is appointed to the position of associate justice,” said Sen. David Lane, the bill’s sponsor.
As it is, the SGA president interviews and appoints applicants who then must be confirmed by the Senate. Therefore, the law does not guarantee the chief justice a participatory role in the process of naming associate justices.
However, this is currently not presenting problems for SGA.
“In the time that I’ve been in the Student Government Association, it’s been common courtesy for the president to enlist the opinion of the chief justice because they’re the one who’s going to be working with them, (justices)” said Vice President Jonathan Fields.
Upon discussion of the legislation, Sen. Ron Keller made a motion to strike the bill’s last sentence, which required the chief justice to review the qualifications of all applicants during the Senate confirmation hearing.
Unwilling to accept any amendments not in writing, Fields objected to the motion. This sparked debate on who, according to parliamentary procedure, is allowed to make an objection under such conditions. Some thought that only the sponsor, Lane, could offer an objection. Others thought any Senate member could.
Ultimately, the Senate failed to override Field’s objection and Lane withdrew his legislation.
Discussion of whether or not correct procedure was followed continued after the meeting.
Chief Justice Jonita Ashley expressed her disappointment with the failure of the bill.
“Derrick (Whitson, SGA president) and I have had a great working relationship,” she said. “We’ve agreed on every applicant, but in the past I’ve wanted a qualified applicant and the president has wanted one of his buddies. I just wanted to see that future chief justices have a substantial say in the selection of court members.”
Lane also expressed his frustration and announced his plan to rework the legislation as an initiative which is a petition by 10 percent of registered students to propose laws and amendments.
In other matters, the SGA awarded 606 funds to 21 organizations.
Over $21,657 was given among the Advertising Club, Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Psi Omega, Beta Alpha Psi, Beta Beta Beta, Catholic Center, Construction Management, Criminal Justice Graduates, Criminal Justice Undergrad-uates, Delta Omicron, Dental Lab Club, Eta Sigma Gamma, Psychology Graduates, Print-maker’s Guild, Psi Chi, Psychology Club, SAYC, Sigma Kappa, STEA, Student Cer-amics and Student Sculptors.

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