Senate Protest and Analysis Thread

[Emsworth]

More free trade fun.  This will catch Atlasia up with the U.S. in terms of free trade agreements, I think.
...
*Note:  The U.S. also has a free trade agreement with Chile, but that is covered in MasterJedi's South American Free Trade Bill.

I think that there are a couple of other sovereignty-infringing free trade agreements that need to be replaced with proper free trade bills, namely, the U.S.-Israel and U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreements.

Also, the U.S. is in the process of negotiating free trade agreements with Malaysia, Morocco, and Oman.

[Emsworth]

How much longer should we wait until voting?

IIRC it's 3 days so sometime tomorrow.

Yes, and you (Jerusalemcar) might want to familiarize yourself somewhat with the Senate operating procedures.  It will make your time as a Senator more effective and more enjoyable.

To be fair, the Senate's rules as they stand right now are quite complicated. Towards the end of my term as VP, I had written a shortened version of the rules, keeping nearly everything the same. (The only changes I made involved some rules that, in my experience as presiding officer, were never actually applied.) However, I did not get a chance to submit the rules for the Senate's consideration.

While substantively the same as the old rules, this new version is not even half as long (three and a half pages, as opposed to nine). If the PPT would like me to do so, I could send this version to him.

[Emsworth]

Sponsored by Senator Earl A. Washburn (SDP-NY), co-sponsored by Senator jerusalemcar5 (SDP-ME)

AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF ATLASIA

The President of the Republic of Atlasia has under no circumstances
the right to relieve the duties of any elected official. The President
may not also have the have the power to relieve the duties any member
of the Supreme Court of Atlasia or any member of a regional court.
The President may not in his executive powers dismiss any Senator,
the Vice President or any elected member of the regions.

My personal opinion is that this amendment is redundant and unnecessary. The President may have jokingly claimed a particular power; however, that does not mean that the power actually exists. I would note that there is already a Supreme Court decision (SamSpade v. Ebowed) in which the Court has declared that the President's powers are not unlimited--their extent is determined by legal history.

[Emsworth]

David Yates Death Act

1. For Atlasia purposes, the former VP, David Yates, has passed away from brain cancer

Perhaps you should also establish a Ministry of Truth.

[Emsworth]

I believe that we have at least one piece of obsolete legislation on the books: the Diplomatic Mission Act. To my knowledge, no President has taken any interest whatsoever in complying with its provisions, and no citizen has taken any interest whatsoever in making sure that it is enforced. Accordingly, I would request any Senator to introduce a bill to repeal this law.