2008 Woodie Awards
ASISU Supreme Court yet to rule of pivotal election cases
Steven Glenn
Issue date: 4/4/07 Section: News
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Currently, what defines membership in the association, and whether ASISU will be governed by a new constitution are both up for debate in the ASISU student government.
According to the current ASISU Constitution, the Supreme Court is made up of "…five qualified members of the association," (article five, section one).
There are currently four students sitting on the Supreme Court of ASISU. Chief Justice Chace Mickelson is a senior in biology. Justice Jonathan Winn is a senior in political science, followed by Justice Kyrsten Hansen, a freshman in social work. The fourth Justice, Joelle Brown, is a freshman in elementary education.
According to Mickelson, the Court has had seven cases filed this year, all revolving around the ASISU general elections that were held previously.
The first cases were filed by executive ticket candidates Shawnee Knapp and Elizabeth Olson against fellow executive ticket candidates Jennifer Brown and Brian Wheat and Arts and Sciences senate candidate Todd Itami, citing misconduct during the general election, and copyright infringement by Itami with the use of Benny the Bengal, the official mascot of ISU athletics.
The Court decided not to hear either of the cases because it felt the matters were out of their hands. In the official response, the Court stated, "After much thought, it was decided that this case falls out of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of the Associated Students of Idaho State University. Violations in the student code of conduct must be handled through Jim Fullerton at the Office of Judicial Affairs. Copyright infringement issues must be directed to the Director of Athletics (who is familiar with the case) at Idaho State University."
The next case was brought by Tom Briggs/Matt Bloxham, who filed a general protest against the election (printed as a 'letter to the editor' in the March 7 edition of the Bengal). The case cited several election rule violations and general problems with the election. In it, Briggs/Bloxham alleged that students who were not members of ASISU - or in other words didn't pay fees to ASISU - were able to vote, among several other charges. They also alleged in the case that more than one member of the Court was seen campaigning for the Orange Party during the election.
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