I don't think electing judges really makes for a less bias court.

-tsunamy
[forum admin]

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I like the idea of appointing Justices and moving to a 3 Justice panel. I'd prefer to have an Assembly approval of the appointed justices but that wouldn't make or break my support.

As for terms I would say we stay with a 4 month term and have appointments mid-way through the Cabinet term.

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I don't think electing judges really makes for a less bias court.

At best a court more biased to the whims of the region.

And of course we get the more political candidates over the more qualified ones. (I've seen enough in TSP courts, you're only lying if you deny it.)

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Here's a reform package I wrote up, following some conversations with others.

First, a constitutional amendment:

Article 4: The High Court of the South Pacific

Section 1. Composition.
1. The High Court shall consist of one Permanent Justice for hearing non-criminal cases.
2. For criminal cases, an additional two temporary Justices shall be chosen from the Pool of Justices, the composition of which will be prescribed by law.
3. For appeals purposes, an additional appellate Justice shall be chosen from Pool of Justices.
4. The procedure for the appointment of the Permanent Justice shall be defined in a General Law.

Section 2. Reserved Powers.
1. The High Court has the sole power to declare any General Law, in whole or in part, void upon a determination that it violates the terms of this Charter.
2. The High Court may reconcile contradictions within the Charter and General Laws, maintaining the least amount of disruption to the intended purposes of the contradictory parts.
3. The High Court may clarify and interpret provisions of the Charter and Generals Laws, when presented with a Legal Question about them.
4. The High Court holds the sole power to remove citizenship outside of regular legislation that outlines reasonable upkeep requirements or security imperatives.
5. The High Court holds the sole power to conduct a criminal trial.

Section 3. The Pool of Justices.
1. The Permanent Justice and the Cabinet shall come together to create a list of at least four well-qualified citizens to serve as temporary and appellate Justices.
2. When selecting from the Pool of Justices, selections shall be made according to the date entrants were added.
3. Citizens in the Pool of Justices must meet all qualifications to sit as Justice when selected, but do not have to be removed automatically from the Pool upon not meeting those qualifications.
4. The Pool of Justices must be posted publicly.

Section 4. Procedures of the High Court.
1. Procedures for the High Court, including how Legal Questions, criminal trials, and appeals are submitted and conducted, must be outlined in a General Law.
2. The High Court is primarily responsible for the production of its procedures, which must be presented to the Assembly. However, the Assembly may revisit those procedures at any time.

Section 4. Recusals, Absenteeism, and Vacancy.
1. In the event that the Permanent Justice must recuse themselves from a case, or is absent and unable to conduct business, an acting Justice will be selected from the Pool of Justices for that case.
2. The office of the Permanent Justice will be considered vacant upon resignation, recall, or excessive unannounced absenteeism that harms the functioning of the judiciary, in which case the Cabinet may appoint a new Permanent Justice to fill the remainder of the term.

And then a separate law going into detail about selection:

Judiciary Act

Article 1. Appointment of the Permanent Justice.

Section 1. Cabinet Appointment.
1. The Cabinet is responsible for appointing a well-qualified citizen to serve as Permanent Justice of the High Court.
2. When choosing a citizen to serve, the Cabinet must take into account the trustworthiness, fairness, professionalism, and expertise of their nominee.
3. A majority of the Cabinet must support the nominee.

Section 2. Assembly Disapproval.
1. The Cabinet must submit their nominee to the Assembly, where a three-day debate will commence immediately following the nomination.
2. The Assembly may reject the nominee by passing a disapproval vote with at least three-fourths support of those voting, which must be up for vote for five days.
3. The nomination will be considered accepted upon the conclusion of the debate period, if a disapproval vote is not initiated, or upon the failure of a disapproval vote.

Section 3. Start of Term.

The term for the Permanent Justice will begin following the acceptance of their nomination by the Assembly.

Article 2. Citizenship Requirement.

In order to serve on the High Court, a person must be a citizen of the Coalition of The South Pacific.

Article 3. Separation of Powers.

Section 1. Assembly and Political Participation.
1. The Permanent Justice, and members of the Pool of Justices, may exercise their political rights freely.
2. When participating in the Assembly or political organizations, Justices should take care to not act in a way that calls into question the integrity and legitimacy of the High Court.

Section 2. Executive Firewall.
1. No citizen may sit on the High Court while serving as a Minister, Deputy Minister, or other executive appointment.
2. For the purposes of this section, serving as an officer in the military does not count as serving in an executive capacity, as long as their officer status does not grant them access to privileged Cabinet areas.
3. Membership in the Committee on State Security does not count as serving in an executive capacity. However, a CSS-member Justice must recuse themselves in cases where the CSS is a party.

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Looks good on my first read through. I could support this.

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I forgot to include that the High Court can interpret General Laws. I'll fix that when I get back from work.

Other than that, the only thing that needs debate is the threshold for the disapproval vote.

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Rephrase the Disapproval, maybe readd that clause that Justices aren't prohibited from organizations. But other than a few minor tweaks it looks good so far.

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I've made those small fixes.

The last thing to discuss is how we would handle the existing bench of Justices. Do they serve out their term, and then this all comes into effect? Or will the High Court 'reset' and the new system come into place immediately?

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I'd say the new system should be in place after passing.

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Eh

Darkstrait  :ninja:

Former Justice, Former Local Councilor, Roleplayer, Former SPSF Deputy for Recruitment, Politically Active Citizen, Ex-Spammer Supreme, and Resident Geek

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The Socialist Federated Democracy of Darkstrait
Ruled by Archchancellor Ridcully
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