DeKALB – Following the Student Government Association Senate’s controversial attempt to appoint two new justices last week, two new constitutional bills were read at Friday’s meeting that could impact the process of appointment and selection for SGA Supreme Court justices.

The two bills were not voted on, but will be read again at the senate’s next meeting on April 12 and will be voted on a week later by the senate on April 19.

A BILL TO REGULATE SUPREME COURT APPOINTMENTS

Bill SR55049, authored by Senator Stanley Anukwuocha, was read to the senate on Friday. 

The bill will not allow the approval of a Supreme Court justice by the senate at least one month prior to an SGA election.

The bill was originally written with the intent to limit the approval of Supreme Court justices to a week prior to elections, but after a suggestion by Senator Demetri Anastopolous, the time to approve justices was extended to a month.

A BILL TO REGULATE SUPREME COURT SELECTION CRITERIA

Bill SR55050, authored by Deputy Speaker Chris English, was introduced to the senate on Friday. 

The bill, if accepted, would cause the president and the senate to not be able to appoint or approve, respectively, a Supreme Court justice who could cause a majority among justices in the same organization.

Additionally, the bill would clarify that by having a chief justice and two associate justices, quorum can be met by the Supreme Court.

Senator Lucas Osman did not approve of the new bill.

“I think, like, enacting this legislation would just complicate and make it that much harder like in the future for like the next session to appoint justices,” Osman said.

English backed up the potential legislature by noting that although the supreme court justices should be unbiased, it’s not completely possible.

“Yes, the justices should be unbiased,” English said. “However, if you look at psychological studies, people hold bias to the things that they’re a part of, it is inherent bias and yes, we can work to minimize that. But at the end of the day, it is something that’s been shown to be true that you hold a bias toward whatever things you are a part of.”

RECOGNITION OF 3 NEW STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

The following student organizations were recognized by the SGA senate: Chi Sigma Iota Counseling Academic and Professional Honors Society International, Latter Day Saints Student Association, and Association for Supply Chain Management.

SGA meetings are open to the public and held at 2 p.m. on Fridays, with locations posted in the senate’s agendas. SGA minutes and intent to speak forms are available on Huskie Hub.