After an almost 15 year hiatus, Eastern’s student supreme court has for the last three years listened to five cases concerning the student constitution.

“They hear cases regarding the student body constitution,” Student Body President Michelle Murphy said. “They don’t hear cases often. The less cases, the better. It means no one is breaking the constitution.”

Located electronically on Eastern’s student government webpage, the constitution was last revised in the fall of 2004.

Elections to become a justice recently took place. The process involved filling out an application, an individual interview with Murphy, and, if approved, coming before the senate to be approved by a two-thirds majority.

“We want a normal sort of student attitude,” Murphy said when giving a description of what the student justices should be. “We’ve had people who were very experienced in political science and law, but it hasn’t been necessarily ideal. The normal sort of student will remain objective and have a normal view point and not use the supreme court as a soap box.”

Chief Justice Jared Hausmann gave further details about the student supreme court. He said there are no weekly meetings or day-to-day responsibilities for the justices except to be open in case something comes up.

“It’s a lot more different than the other branches. It’s purely reactive,” Hausmann said.

Hausmann has served more than two years on the student supreme court, acting as both an associate justice and now the chief justice. He has seen three cases.

“There is only a couple of differences, like the administrative work such as scheduling meetings. The most important aspect is that the Chief Justice writes the opinion on the cases,” Hausmann said.

The student supreme court has no actual role out on campus like the president and senators do. Their only role is to uphold the student body constitution.

“I was pleased when we reinstated the court, since the constitution mandates there be a court. There is no balance of power without the third branch,” Hausmann said.

There are a total of seven justices on the student supreme court consisting one chief justice and six associate justices. The other justices include Jose Alacron, Eric Baker, J.D. Brandmeyer, Trevor McKey and Don Stone. One spot remains open.

Jacob Swanson can be reached at 581-7942 or jjswanson2@eiu.edu.