The UOSA Undergraduate Student Congress voted Tuesday to reject a bill clarifying the impeachment process of UOSA judges because they were concerned it would be used to unnecessarily impeach justices.
The bill was previously passed by the Graduate Student Senate Sunday with a vote of 54-1, with three people abstaining and no debate. It stated that the legislative branch could impeach judges for reasons other than those explicitly stated in the current code.
“Most students don’t understand what is going on,” sophomore representative Forrest Bennett said. “With this ability to just impeach willy-nilly, are you concerned that we may overuse this sort of very sobering ability?
“I’m just concerned we might use [impeachment] more often because we might take advantage of those who don’t understand what is going on.”
Graduate Student Senate Chair Silas DeBoer argued that the bill would not serve as a means of empowering the legislative branch but would rather give more focus to the impeachment process and provide better checks and balances.
DeBoer asserted that the bill did not have anything to do with prior attempts to impeach justices, addressing another concern expressed by representatives.
Overall, Tuesday’s vote failed by a count of 7-13, with five people abstaining.
The Congress did approve a bill extending the amount of time UOSA has to fill a Superior Court vacancy.
The time was changed from 30 days to 45 days, and members approved the bill 19-3, with four abstentions.
This bill passed unanimously at Sunday’s Graduate Student Senate meeting.
Undergraduate representatives also approved unanimously to appoint committee leaders.
The next Undergraduate Student Congress meeting is at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Adams Hall room 150. All students can attend.
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soonerboomers 1 year, 8 months ago
Man Silas looks more like a fool everyday. Let last semester go dude. You are just embarrassing yourself even more.
glazedwithrainwater 1 year, 8 months ago
Soonerboomers, you are the sound of one hand clapping.
-so much depends...