What is the Judicial Council (JC)?
The judicial council is compromised of four Associate Justices and one Chief Justice. The four reigning associate justices for the 2008 academic year are Jillian Turner, Alexander Smith, Shawn Denney, and Martin Bragalone. Katie Rollert currently resides as Chief Justice. Duties of the council entail mediating appeals, settling disputes among senators and executive cabinet members, and annually inaugurating the new administration.
Article VIII, Appendix V outlines the Judicial Council's formal duties:
- Quorum (3 members) is required for any Judicial Council decision, hearing, or deliberation.
- Upon receipt of a request for Judicial Council action, the Chief Justice must make sure that all members are informed about the case and meeting times.
- A written decision by the Judicial Council becomes precedent and shall be considered in future cases dealing with similar circumstances.
- A decision must contain the signatures of all justices participating in a case before it is released to anyone outside the Council.
- In cases where conflicts of interest or biases occur, justices must inform the Council of the problem. If a justice fails to voluntarily abstain from a decision in which there is a conflict of interest or bias, a simple majority vote by all members of the Council will force an abstention of that member.
- If the Chief Justice finds it necessary to abstain from a hearing, he/she may conduct the hearing if and only if it is conducted in a fair and unbiased manner. He/she may not participate in the deliberations or decision.
- All comments about a decision made to the media shall be directed to and answered by the Chief Justice only, except in cases of dissenting and/or concurring opinions.
- A copy of all decisions shall be kept in the Judicial Council office.