SGA approves judicial branch of government

It might be a busy campaigning and election season for most members of Mercer’s SGA, but that did not stop them from heavily changing their structure for upcoming terms.
In a move that still needs to be passed via student referendum, they have approved legislation that recreates the long lost judicial branch of government, primarily responsible for judicial review and ensuring that all actions taken by the Senate and the Executive Branch are constitutional from here on out.
Originally created by former Parliamentarian Gene Mitchell, Senator Austin Thompson, Senator Ronnie Davis, and Senator Raymond Partolan over the course of the year, the legislation took two weeks to pass through Senate.
Failing due to a lack of a few small, but necessary corrections not happening during its first Senate session on March 26, the piece of legislation was amended a few times on April 3 to pass in order to be voted on in a special election before the end of the current term.
However, it was decided to be postponed until the fall in order to better inform the students of what the piece of legislation is.
In addition, Senator Matt Hickman brought forth a few bylaw changes on April 10, the final senate of the year, in order to make sure they were not passing legislation and dropping problems on their successors. In essence, the judicial branch of SGA would have members that were appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. Their main duties would be in relations to impeachment proceedings and ensuring that all legislation passed and all things approved in the future were in good standing with the SGA constitution. There will be formal lobbying for the piece of legislation by students, in line with requirements previously set, but this will not be formally voted on or adopted by the student body until fall elections.