Saturday, July 22, 2006
That other case
In case you forgot, a few weeks ago Ben went to a hearing to argue that the "bend over for the Graduate Assembly" referendum shouldn't have passed. The Judicial Council has issued what I believe was the obvious opinion: Yeah, Ben might have a point, but the law says that 30% of the vote is enough to pass a constitutional amendment if 60% of the vote is abstention. Therefore, the referendum passed.
More interesting are the Judicial Council's recommendations and broader thoughts.
The Judicial Council urges the Elections Council to take this into consideration in future elections – that including an explicit option for abstentions may not be the most accurate way to assess student opinion. This is a real consideration, but considering that the form of the ballot for executive and senate races is pretty explicitly defined in the bylaws, I would contend that this is really the Senate's job, and it shouldn't be left to the discretion of the Elections Council. But good luck getting the Senate to do its job.
However, although we believe the "spirit of the law" may hold this interpretation, it is ultimately the duty of the legislators to assure that the true intent is clearly written in the exact wording of the Constitution. The Judicial Council does not believe it is our duty to interpret and ascertain a greater meaning that is contrary to what is directly written. This is, in my opinion, absolutely correct. It is just so sad that the legislators in the ASUC are too incompetent to do their job. I don't think anyone actually expects the Senate to accomplish this.
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