Controversy exists over the legitimacy of the Student Association Supreme Court decision to disband the SA Senate after the court ruled Thursday that the 1986 SA senate voting redistricting plan is unconstitutional.

Since the supreme court ruled the senate must be disbanded, a new senate must be elected. Elections Commissioner Robert Perry said elections could be held Feb. 7.

Perry said this is an unrealistic goal, however, because he has to determine voting policy regarding students living in housing owned by a fraternity or sorority. Students living in these houses are considered as living in the same district as the fraternity or sorority, he said.

Former SA Senate Speaker Joe Annunzio questioned the legitimacy of the supreme court’s decision because Supreme Court Justice Tom Zur was forbidden to rule on the matter because of possible bias toward the issue.

“The (SA) Supreme Court overstepped its boundaries (when it disbanded the senate),” Annunzio said at a press conference Sunday.

Annunzio said he is petitioning the court’s decision Monday through a written petition. He said the court has seven days to act on the petition, and he will seek legal counsel if the court does not respond within this period.

SA President Paula Radtke said she talked with Associate Legal Counselor Norden Gilbert and University Legal Counselor George Shur, and they stated that “everything the supreme court did was within their power.”

Having a legislative branch out of operation is not “abnormal,” Radtke said. The court’s decision to disband the senate only “takes away our ability to serve students effectively,” she said.

Annunzio said the senate does 75 percent of the executive branch’s work. Without a senate there might as well “not be a Paula Radtke,” he said.

Former Senator Jim Ruzicka said the senate still should be an operational body because the SA Constitution states that only two ways—impeachment or recall—exist to remove a senator.

Recalling a senator requires the signatures of 20 percent of that senator’s constituents. If a petition is signed, removal of the senator requires a vote of the majority of the constituents, Ruzicka said.

He said the SA is an ineffective body without the senate because it cannot carry out any procedures except elections.