Judiciary By-Law

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• Judiciary By-Law in Word format.
• Judiciary By-Law in PDF format.

A BY-LAW OF THE DUKE STUDENT GOVERNMENT To Repeal and Replace DSG-BL-2007-110703

Contents 1 THE JUDICIARY BY-LAW 1.1 I. General 1.2 II. The Chief Justice 1.3 III. The Associate Justices 1.4 IV. Powers and Responsibilities of the Judiciary 1.5 V. Executive Impeachment 1.6 VI. Amendments to this By-Law

THE JUDICIARY BY-LAW

I. General

a. Applicants to serve on the Judiciary must be able to complete the full two year term.

b. All Justices shall be sworn in immediately following their confirmation.

c. Senators and other members of DSG are not eligible to serve on the Judiciary.

d. Justices may be removed for malfeasance or nonfeasance in office by a 2/3 vote of the Legislature.

e. Each applicant must complete an application. The Executive Vice President will publicize the availability of applications and the nature of the committee seats open for application through campus-wide media at least one week prior to the application deadline. Applications must be submitted by a deadline to be set by the Executive Vice President. Any undergraduate will be eligible to apply.

II. The Chief Justice

Selection

a. A committee of the Senate shall convene in the spring to select from among the applicants a candidate (or candidates not to exceed three in number) to be the next DSG Chief Justice who will be presented by the committee to the Senate as the best individual(s) to hold the office. This committee shall present concurrently a report on each candidate, and a summary of the committee’s dealing with each. The hearings of the committee are to be open to the public and the public shall have, at the discretion of the committee, the opportunity to testify about the applicants.

b. After the presentation from the committee, the Senate shall then elect from among the final candidates a single nominee to be the next DSG Chief Justice.

c. The student body shall then vote to approve or reject the Chief Justice nominee. The Chief Justice shall appear on the same ballot as the President.

d. Should the student body reject the nominee, this process is to be repeated in its entirety.

Duties

a. The Chief Justice shall preside over the DSG Judiciary and shall serve a term of two years.

b. The Chief Justice-elect shall be inaugurated prior to all other DSG officers and shall supervise their inauguration(s), delivering the DSG oath of office.

c. The Chief Justice shall execute any other duties mandated in this or other by laws.

III. The Associate Justices

The Judiciary shall be additionally composed of six Associate Justices who shall also serve terms of two years.

Selection

a. For the purpose of selection, the Associate Justices shall be divided into two classes. Class A are to be selected in the springs of even numbered years; Class B are to be selected in the springs of odd years. Three Associate Justices are to be selected each year.

b. The same committee which vets the candidates for Chief Justice, shall also be responsible for forwarding to the Senate those candidates from among the applicant pool deemed competent to hold office. As with the Chief Justice, the meetings of the committee shall be open to the public and the committee shall issue a final report and submit any relevant documents to the Senate at the conclusion of its deliberations.

c. The Senate shall then choose three Associate Justices from among the candidates deemed competent by the committee.

d. These candidates are to be sworn in by the Chief Justice immediately following their election by the Senate.

IV. Powers and Responsibilities of the Judiciary

A. The Judiciary shall have all powers delegated in the Constitution, and shall have the power to create, by a majority vote, rules and procedures for the conduct of its hearings and dealings with the DSG and the larger University community provided that they observe constitutional stipulations.

B. In addition to the Constitutional powers, the Chief Justice shall have the power to appoint such clerks as shall be deemed necessary to properly complete the duties of the Judiciary. A Vice-Chair shall be appointed by the Chief Justice to preside over the Judiciary in the absence of the Chief Justice and shall perform any other duties determined by the Chief Justice or by the rules and procedures of the Judiciary.

C. The Judiciary is required to convene in full no less than once each semester.

V. Executive Impeachment

A. Any officer of the Executive Committee may be impeached by the Senate. An Executive Officer of the Duke Student Government may be impeached for any misconduct, malperformance, or maleficence.

B. Specifically, causes for removal from office include, but are not limited to:

a. Neglect of duties.

b. Intentional breach of the DSG Constitution and/or By-Laws.

c. Actions that reflect negatively on the DSG, but which may not constitute neglect of duties or a breach of the DSG Constitution and/or By-Laws.

C. In order to be impeached, both the Judiciary and the Senate must approve the impeachment as described in the following process.

a. In order to start the proceedings, any member of the DSG Senate or Executive must submit a written statement to the Executive Vice-President stating the reasons(s) for impeachment. This shall henceforth be referred to as the Statement of Impeachment.

i. If the Executive Vice-President is being impeached, the President Pro-Temp of the Senate will fulfill this role for the purposes of the Impeachment Process.

ii. The President Pro-Tempore will also fulfill the role of the Executive Vice-President for the duration of the proceedings.

iii. If the Executive Vice-President is removed, the President Pro-Tempore will serve as the President of the Senate until another can be elected.

b. The Executive Vice President will then submit the Statement of Impeachment to the Chief Justice of the Judiciary. The first impeachment trial will be held by the Judiciary. The Judiciary will convene an impeachment trial no later then 2 weeks after the submission of the Statement of Impeachment.

c. The person who filed the original Statement of Impeachment shall serve as the Prosecutor for removing the Executive Officer or appoint his or her own replacement.

d. The Attorney General will serve as council to the Defense.

e. The Judiciary shall have the following powers and responsibilities

i. to subpoena any evidence related to the development of the case

ii. to hear witnesses for both sides.

iii. to develop a written statement regarding all the findings of the committee.

iv. Dissents to the findings may be included in the final report.

f. The judiciary, after hearing all of the evidence from both sides, collecting its own evidence, and discussing in closed session shall make a decision regarding the defendant.

g. They may rule either

i. FAVORABLE: a favorable committee report indicates that it is the decision of the committee that there is overwhelming evidence substantiating impeachment proceedings.

ii. UNFAVORABLE: an unfavorable committee report indicates that there is insufficient evidence supporting the impeachment proceedings

iii. NON-PREJUDICIAL: a non-prejudicial committee report indicates that there is not enough evidence on either side to support or dismiss a motion to impeach.

h. The Chief Justice shall report the findings of the Judiciary to the DSG Senate if he or she is on the side of the majority.

i. If not, he or she must allow a representative of the majority, elected by the majority, to deliver the majority opinion

ii. A representative of the minority shall also deliver their report to the senate.

i. The Senate upon receiving the committee's report and recommendation shall enter into a period of debate based upon the findings of the Judiciary.

i. If the Judiciary rules that the impeachment is FAVORABLE, a 1/2 majority of the senate must vote for the impeachment in order for the Executive Officer to be removed.

ii. If the Judiciary rules that the impeachment is UNFAVORABLE, a 2/3 majority of the senate must vote for the impeachment in order for the Executive Officer to be removed.

iii. In the event of a NON-PREJUDICIAL ruling, the Senate must form a subcommittee chaired by the Executive Vice President to re-examine the evidence. This body shall be elected by the senate and may only consist of 6 senators and the Executive Vice President. This body shall then re-do the trial of the Judiciary using the process described in these bylaws above.

1. If this second body rules the impeachment NON-PREJUDICIAL, a 2/3 majority of the senate must vote for the impeachment in order for the Executive Officer to be removed.

VI. Amendments to this By-Law

A. In case of future amendments to this By-Law, the entire By-Law shall be retyped to include the amendment and shall replace the previous full copy of the By-Law in the DSG records. A clause shall be added at the end of the newly retyped By-Law giving the dates of all amendments. Only the most recent amendment shall be retained in the DSG records, and previous ones may be discarded, as their text will be included in the full By-Law.

Respectfully submitted,

Gregory Morrison Executive Vice-President

Previous Versions 1. DSG-BL-1993-040102 2. DSG-BL-2000-020203 3. DSG-BL-2007-110703