SA Supreme Court must release opinions on election hearings
April 20, 2015
Students still haven’t seen the opinions of the Student Association Supreme Court, which decided to repeal the disqualification of the Voice of Change ticket from the 2015 SA executive election on March 31.
The Voice of Change ticket was disqualified March 26 after being sanctioned for excessive littering, failure to get handbills approved by the election commissioner and taping a flier to a wall. The Supreme Court decided the sanctions were unfounded and lifted the disqualification at a March 31 hearing. Voice of Change was also charged with voter intimidation by Robert Kreml, vice presidential candidate on the Standing for Every Student ticket, but the court dismissed the charge at a separate March 31 hearing. Hours after the hearing, the Voice of Change ticket was declared the winner of the election as it received the majority of the votes in the March 24 and 25 voting.
Students need to see the Supreme Court’s justification for its decisions. Chief Justice Brian Burkhardt said he had no comment on when or how soon the justices’ opinions would be issued.
The SA Supreme Court has only two past cases listed on its website. The first case details a hearing held on Sept. 25, 2011, with an opinion issued Sept. 27, while the second describes cases heard Oct. 23 and 27, 2011, with an opinion issued Oct. 31. If past courts can issue opinions in less than a week then the current court should hold itself to that standard.
The court must also immediately issue its opinion on the hearings concerning the SA’s leadership as the winners will soon be inaugurated and will act as the voice of students. Students should know the justices’ thoughts on the contentious elections before then.
The most recent hearings caused a stir among the student body, pitting Greek students against non-Greeks, especially on social media. The election debacle doesn’t stop with Voice of Change’s win — it ends with the Supreme Court members justifying their decisions to the students.