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-2000-020203

Contents 1 THE JUDICIARY BY-LAW 1.1 I. Structure and Election of the Judiciary 1.2 II. Powers and Responsibilities of the Judiciary 1.3 III. Executive Impeachment 1.4 III. Amendments to this By-Law

THE JUDICIARY BY-LAW

I. Structure and Election of the Judiciary

A. The Chief Justice shall be the head of the Judiciary and the Chief Legal Officer of the DSG. S/he shall be elected at the last Spring meeting of the Legislature by a majority of those voting. Of no candidate receives a clear majority, a runoff shall be held between the top two (2) vote-getting candidates. Nominations for the position will be opened to the entire student body at the meeting previous to the election and closed at the last meeting. 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.

B. The Judiciary shall additionally be composed of six (6) Justices, which shall be selected in the following way: one (1) Justice appointed by the President, one (1) appointed by the Executive Vice-President, one (1) appointed by the Chief Justice, and three (3) elected by the Legislature. The appointments shall be submitted to the Legislature no later than its second meeting of the Fall semester for approval, with elections for the Justices by the Legislature taking place at he same meeting. These elected positions will be open to the entire student body and nominations are to be advertised as open at the first legislative meeting of the Fall semester. All Justices shall then be sworn in before the beginning of the third meeting. Those elected or appointed shall become ex-officio, non-voting members of the Legislature. Legislators are not eligible to serve on the Judiciary. Justices may be removed for malfeasance or nonfeasance in office by a 5 of 7 vote affirmative of the Judiciary, or a 2/3 vote of the Legislature.

II. 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 granted to the Chief Justice, s/he shall have the power to appoint such executive assistants 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 his/her absence and perform any other duties as determined by the Chief Justice or the rules and procedures of the Judiciary as mentioned above.

C. The Judiciary is required to convene in full no less than one (1) time each semester.

III. Executive Impeachment

A. Any officer of the Executive Committee may be impeached by the Duke Student Government. 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.

d. 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.

1. 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.
2. The President Pro-Tempore will also fulfill the role of the Executive Vice-President for the duration of the proceedings.
3. If the Executive Vice-President is removed, the President Pro-Tempore will serve as the President of the Senate until another can be elected.

e. The EVP 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.

f. 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.

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

h. The Judiciary shall have the following powers and responsibilities

1. to subpoena any evidence related to the development of the case
2. to hear witnesses for both sides.
3. to develop a written statement regarding all the findings of the committee.
4. Dissents to the findings may be included in the final report.
5. 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.

j. They may rule either

1. FAVORABLE: a favorable committee report indicates that it is the decision of the committee that there is overwhelming evidence substantiating impeachment proceedings.
2. UNFAVORABLE: an unfavorable committee report indicates that there is insufficient evidence supporting the impeachment proceedings
3. 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.

k. 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.

1. If not, he or she must allow a representative of the majority, elected by the majority, to deliver the majority opinion
2. A representative of the minority shall also deliver their report to the senate.

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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. In the event of a NON-PREJUDICIAL ruling, the Senate must form a subcommittee chaired by the President Pro-Tempore to re-examine the evidence. This body shall be elected by the senate and may only consist of 6 senators and the Pro-Tempore. 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.

III. 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,

Jordan Giordano Executive Vice-President

Jeff Buchan Chief Justice

Previous Versions DSG-BL-1993-040102 DSG-BL-2000-020203