Mideast Constitutional Convention

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I have no issues with the proposed amendments excluding Amendment 2. I believe that voting on propositions should be held once a month at a set time rather than scattered across the calendar month (for reasons of turnout) However that is a minor issue and I am willing to bend to popular opinion on that one.

I also intend to formally table an amendment that abolishes the position of Superior Court Judge delegating authority to a federal judge (and making the Speaker of the Assembly the 'junior' when booths need to be administered followed by the most senior Assemblyman etc)

On that note anyone who wishes to formally table suggested amendments please do so. It is preferrable to vote on these issues in one 'sitting' so to speak, rather than have a wave of voting.

Sorry - I had meant to change Amendment 2, but I forgot and just did a copy and paste job.  Good eye!

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Why don't we make Superior Court nomination up to the Governor with the approval of the Assembly.  That seems better than both the current template and Purple State's amendment.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I propose the following as

Amendment 8:

1. Article 2, Section 2, Clause 1, which currently reads: "In order to be nominated to the Superior Court, a person shall be nominated jointly by the Governor and Lieutenant Governor."
shall be changed to read: "In order to be nominated to the Superior Court, a person shall be nominated by the Governor."
2. Article 2, Section 2, Clause 2, which currently reads: "The nomination shall then be voted on by the Assembly."
shall be changed to read: "The nomination shall then be confirmed by a majority vote of the Assembly."


Basically, it's PS's amendment, but I want the position permanent.  Won't it be funny if people pass both of these. 

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Aye to Purple States' amendment. His seems to insure against chaos in the event of low activity.

We already have a provision for that, that allows for the temporary takeover of the government in the absence of the Governor.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Amendment 1:
AYE


Amendment 2:
AYE


Amendment 3:
AYE


Amendment 4:

NAY


Amendment 5:

AYE


Amendment 6: Option 2 Sponsor: Governor Inks

AYE

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

If I may address the Convention,

I'd like to encourage the passage of my version of Amendment 6.  Already, we have had 2 Superior Court cases within the period of a month.  I think this shows that there is a need for a judge, and to make that position temporary makes no sense.

Furthermore, the provision never specifies when the Speaker can nominate a judge.  I know that Purple State's intent was to put that provision in there in case the Governor does not nominate somebody, but the way it reads now, the Speaker could nominate somebody even if  the Governor nominated somebody and then vote to accept his nominee and not the Governor's.  Making the nomination process a case-by-case nomination opens the door for ethics problems where a judge is nominated because he is expected to rule one way or the other.  Keeping the position permanent gets rid of this problem.

Again, I encourage the passage of Option 2 of Amendment 6, and the rejection of Option 1.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

My worries do lie in the fact that it's temporary.  The fact that it is temporary means that different judges could be chosen for different reasons.

For instance, let's say that the Governor knows that citizen X feels a certain way about subject A, and would rule in favor of him in a court case.  Then, subject B comes up in a lawsuit and the Governor knows that citizen X disagrees with him on that subject, so he picks citizen Y, who agrees with him.

It opens up to many problems for picking judges who will simply side with the Governor.

I see no reason not to have a permanent judge.  If he becomes too busy to quickly handle cases, he can resign.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

The updated Constitution can be found HERE.

Because of concerns with conflicts that may arise due to the wording of Amendment 6, Option 1, I will field ideas for fixes to ensure that the Governor is given priority in the decision, in addition to a mechanism to ensure that a conflict of interest transfers that power to the Speaker.

Give the Governor 36 hours to appoint somebody.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

60 hours is good, I guess.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I was thinking of one other thing just now - what if people simply recall the judge because they disagree with how he ruled a case?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I was thinking of one other thing just now - what if people simply recall the judge because they disagree with how he ruled a case?

That is a possibility. Therefore I have an issue with the second part of the amendment. After some thought on the issue of SCJ, we may have to revert to the current set-up if no other system can work well and without political intervention.

I'll probably at least try to do that if the third constitution passes.  I think we'll get more input if I put the amendment on a monthly ballot.  So if people say keep it temporary, I'm fine with that, because at least we had more input.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Amendment 6a
AYE

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Election for Presiding Officer:

[ X] Purple State
[ ] Write-in:

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Article I, Section 1's title need to remove the reference to Lt. Governor.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Amendment [last amendment# + 1]
AYE

Sorry - but I figured we should try to have a constitution that's as correct as possible.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

If you can get this done in 9 hours, it can be put on the ballot for February.

EDIT: Actually, I normally open ballots at noon, but I'll push it off until 0001 on Friday if it means that we can get the 3C on the ballot; however, I legally cannot push off opening the voting booth any later than that.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Amendment 6a
NAY

Motion
AYE

I also repropose my amendment that I had before that kept the position permanent.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Ok, I will pull both the amendment and the motion since we are out of time. Let's work out exactly what we want for this. Going back to voting on permanence or not is futile. We can hold that vote 5 or 6 times and get different results back and forth.

We have what we have. How do we make it better?

I fail to see how a permanent position is harmful, while we've already established the fact that a temporary position has several flaws.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Ok, I will pull both the amendment and the motion since we are out of time. Let's work out exactly what we want for this. Going back to voting on permanence or not is futile. We can hold that vote 5 or 6 times and get different results back and forth.

We have what we have. How do we make it better?

I fail to see how a permanent position is harmful, while we've already established the fact that a temporary position has several flaws.

A permanent seat is relatively boring and doesn't have all that many responsibilities. It holds people back from running for other positions as well. There is also evidence that it slows the process down a fair amount.

How does a temporary seat have more responsibilites?  And if the judge wants to run for another office, he can resign the judgeship.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Amendment 6a
AYE

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Ok, I will pull both the amendment and the motion since we are out of time. Let's work out exactly what we want for this. Going back to voting on permanence or not is futile. We can hold that vote 5 or 6 times and get different results back and forth.

We have what we have. How do we make it better?

I fail to see how a permanent position is harmful, while we've already established the fact that a temporary position has several flaws.

A permanent seat is relatively boring and doesn't have all that many responsibilities. It holds people back from running for other positions as well. There is also evidence that it slows the process down a fair amount.

How does a temporary seat have more responsibilites?  And if the judge wants to run for another office, he can resign the judgeship.

The point is that a temporary judge would have other responsibilities as a non-judge and would not have to worry about giving up the judgeship for an office.

Quick question: I don't see a provision in the 3CC for holding multiple offices simultaneously. Should that be included? I would then propose as well to exclude the position of SC justice from that.

What responsibilities would he have as a non-judge.

That provision is unnecessary.  It's already in the Federal Constitution (which also means that the position of SC cannot be excluded from it).

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Motion to close debate and bring the Third Constitutional Convention to a close
AYE

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I'll put the booth up at noon on Thursday (I like to try to keep all of our elections consistently on Thursday at noon).