Brandon H vs. Dept. of Forum Affairs

[Brandon H]

I may be a little too late, and since there is nothing wrong with shaking things up, I'll proceed anyway.

On the weekend of December 20 - 23, Elections to the Class B Senate Seats were held, using the old method in which 5 Senators were elected from each of the 5 Districts. These Senators were to take office on January 4 and leave office on May 2. The winner of the District 4 Election, which I voted in since I am a resident of District 4, was Jake.

On December 31, the Proportional Representation Act went into effect by Executive Order.

On March 23, Jake resigned his Senate seat. Shortly after, SoFA Mr. Moderate informed the NLC, which Jake was a member of at the time of his resignation, that there is a vacancy and their party must appoint a replacement as stated by the Proportional Representation Act. Although the Proportional Representation Act went into effect between the time of the election and Jake's resignation, I believe that any office that was originally elected using the old method that becomes vacant should be filled by the same method until a regular election is held using the new election. I ask that the court order an election be held for District 4 citizens to elect a Senator.

(Should the Court rule in my favor, I have no intention of running in the special election.)

[Хahar 🤔]

A legal challenge! This should be interesting. I want to see how it turns out.

[Meeker]

If the court rules in favor of Brandon, wouldn't that trigger special elections for Hashemite and CultureKing's seats as well?

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I, of course, will be vigourously defending my decision.  In the opinion of the Department of Forum Affairs, the part of the law which required special elections was recinded as of December 31, 2007.

[Sam Spade]

As a word of advice for the plaintiff in this action, I might advise trying to get a TRO or preliminary injunction to prevent those who hold the seats from exercising their powers in the Senate.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Given that the Senators in question represent a full 30 percent of the Senate (and a full 60 percent of Atlasia), I would request that the Supreme Court not deny the people of Atlasia adequate representation for an extended period of time, and allow the Senators in question the opportunity to serve until this matter is resolved.

[Brandon H]

While prior vacancies have occurred and have been replaced by the proportional representation act's method, I have only filed this suit for my district. I request an injunction that would only apply to the District 4 Senate Seat that the seat remain vacant until this case is resolved. As a resident of District 4, I do not believe I have a right to request one for any other District Senate Seat.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I have sent a PM to my judicial brethern alerting them to this case and recommending that we accept it for trial, so I urge interested parties to get their briefs prepared.

[bullmoose88]

I have sent a PM to my judicial brethern alerting them to this case and recommending that we accept it for trial, so I urge interested parties to get their briefs prepared.

A sufficient number of justices were in favor of taking the case. 

[bullmoose88]

The Plaintiff, Brandon H, shall have 7 days to acquire counsel and file his appeal formally by brief, the Defendant, The Department for Forum Affairs, shall have 3 days to file a response.  This does not mean the Defendant has to wait for the plaintiff to file, he may file first, but has the extra time.

The court recommends that the brief (modeled after an abridged law school brief to simplify things) should be constructed as follows, the parties don't have to follow but it can only help them.  The length, and detail are also at the parties' discretion, but the Court reminds all parties that it is hesitant to rule on points not argued in the brief except where due process demands we do so (Atlasia v. Wallerstein).

Structure...

The Caption (Plaintiff's name vs. Defendant's Name

Statement of Facts

Here should be your brief outline of the facts in the case, including the procedural history.  Parties are reminded they have a duty to be honest to the court.

Question(s) Presented

Here you should state the questions of LAW (not fact) you want the court to consider

Argument

Here you should try to answer the questions you asked in the QP section.  If you have multple questions, you should break your argument up to answer each, prefaced by a sentence long point heading answering your QP for that part.

Conclusion

Briefly sum up your argument


The length and depth is up to you...the brief is your way of helping the court.


After briefs the justices will confer in chambers and then possibly pose any questions they have for the parties.  Parties are strongly advised that they answer any questions the court has for them and be avaliable for followup questions.

As always the court recommends counsel for the both parties...the official court thread will be opened now. *Bangs Gavel*