In order for a government to work without one person receiving too much power, it must have a system of checks and balances.

The Student Government’s constitution says it should have a system of checks and balances like the U.S. government.

However, the Student Government has not had a judicial branch for six years.

“A student Supreme Court is needed to give students a voice in case they feel their rights are in violation,” said Student Body President Sean Anderson. “It will be a great resource to the student body, the Elections Committee and to Student Government.”

Before a Supreme court can be formed, some questions need to be answered: whether there is a need for the Supreme Court, how it would operate because there currently are no bylaws, and what the function of the court would be.

However, the Student Government’s constitution states: “all judicial powers herein granted shall be vested in the student Supreme Court of EIU.”

The constitution gives the student Supreme Court original and final jurisdiction in constitutional issues and Student Bill of Rights issues.

Anderson is currently researching other schools to see what their Supreme Courts do and how they run.

“Now that I have researched, the next step is to form the dynamics and logistics of the student Supreme Court, including but not limited to how many students will serve on the court, the duration of the term, how it is ran, when they meet, what issues they discuss, etc.,” Anderson said.

According to the constitution, the court should have six associate justices and one chief justice. The justices serve two-year terms and may not hold a position in Student Government.

The student body president appoints all of the justices and fills any vacancies during the term. The senate then confirms all appointments with a 2/3 vote of approval.

The student Supreme Court is organized and run by an adviser who is appointed by the Vice President for Student Affairs, Dan Nadler.

All cases are given to an adviser who keeps a log of cases and appoints them, as needed, to the court.

“Responsibilities of the Supreme Court may include deciding whether legislation passed by Student Government is in violation of the Student Body Constitution or bylaws, giving students a place to appeal decisions about their student rights and election violations,” Anderson said.

Now that Anderson has done external research, he wants to get feedback from students on what they want out of a student Supreme Court.

After the feedback, he said his next step would be to have the student body adopt the court at Eastern.

However, the constitution says Eastern adopted the student Supreme Court years ago.

One reason for a renewed interest in the court is an incident involving the fall Student Government election when ballot boxes were left unattended during voting hours.

Two candidates, Tori Frazier and Chris Kromphardt, who did not run under the Student United Party, were not elected and contested the election.

The most recent Elections Reform, written in 2006, states that violations of the election commission regulations will represent a violation of the student conduct code and be referred to judicial affairs per University procedures.

Defendants are given the option of appealing the decision to the student Supreme Court.

Kromphardt and Frazier had no place to appeal to after representatives from the Office of Judicial Affairs said they could not get involved.

After contesting the election, the two were offered open seats on the student senate, but both refused.

Anderson said he does not know what will happen with the election because he had to stay out of it.

“I have to be objective,” he said. “It is a conflict of interest as an election official to state my opinion.”

Previously, student body presidents have been in charge of elections. But in 2005, former Student Body President Chris Getty ran the election and was a campaign manager for one of the parties.

In 2006, former Student Body President Ryan Berger wanted presidents to not be involved in the elections.

Now, Adam Howell, former student executive vice president, is chairing a committee with Ashley Birch, who is secretary for the senate and has helped run the last six elections, to help write a new reform.

Howell said it is the student body president’s job to create the student Supreme Court. “He could just pick seven of his friends to serve, but the court should be a representation of everyone across campus,” he said.

“I think that possibly after the elections commission is formed, then we could go through the process and there should be one (Supreme Court) put into place,” Anderson said.

“It would be irresponsible to not have it by spring elections.”