FD - Impeachment by Recall

mr_sniffles

mr_sniffles

TNPer
By our venerable Prime Minister:

Article 5:
Impeachment by Trial..

A - Any Regional Assembly Member may bringfile charges with the Court of The North Pacific against a Cabinet-level positionholder if they believe the officeholder has violated this Constitution or partaken in other gross misconduct. The Nation must provide enough evidence to a Grand Jury to warrant a trial.
B - A panel of five Regional Assembly members who are not holding a Cabinet-level position and who are shall be randomly selected from a jury pool not more than 72 hours after the charges are brought. The jury pool, of no less than twenty eligible jurors, shall be chosen in the first week of each three-month judicial term. The selected Grand Jury is to review any evidence given, and [/color][/b] shall be selected by the Chief Justice to review the evidence given. If the Chief Justice is being impeached, the Prime Minister will summon randomly select the Grand Jury. If any jury member expresses a clear bias, they shall be excluded from the Grand Jury and replaced with another juror from the jury pool. The Grand Jury shall have not more than 96 hours to review and weigh the evidence cited in the complaint, and determine whether a trial is warranted.
C - All proceedings shall be recorded and sealed by the Chief Justice, or his/her designees, where applicable (including or by the Prime Minister if the Chief Justice is being impeached), until that officeholder is either exonerated or removed from office. Thereafter, the proceedings shall be published.
D - If the Grand Jury, by majority vote, decides that the given information provides a reasonable basis to warrant a trial for removal from office, the Chief Justice (or the Prime Minister, if the Chief Justice is being impeached) shall call a trial. This trial shall be conducted under the same rules as a criminal trial, except that the Prime Minister shall preside if the Chief Justice is being impeached, and all remaining Cabinet Ministers shall serve as the Jury. Should the defendant be found guilty, they will be immediately removed from office. After removal, the removed officeholder may be subject to expulsion from the Region following a separate criminal trial.

Section 9. Impeachment by Recall Referendum.
A - Any elected or appointed holder of an Cabinet-level office, or any other position of the Regional Government, may be removed from office through Recall.
B - The Grounds for a Recall may be stated on any basis provided by Section 5 of this Article, and specifically includes misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance, or inactivity in office.
C - Recall may be initiated by the filing of notice to seek Recall with the Court. A petition shall thereafter be filed within seven days that is supported by not less than fifteen members of the Regional Assembly then in good standing, and filed with the Chief Justice (or with the Prime Minister, when any Justice of the Court is the subject of the petition). When filed, the petition shall describe the evidence that supports the specific grounds of the petition for Recall. This statement of evidence shall be publicly posted in an appropriate thread no later than the time at which a Recall Election is called.
D - Should the Chief Justice (or when necessary, the Prime Minister) find that a sufficient number of Regional Assembly members then in good standing support the Petition, and find that there is evidence that reasonably appears to support the stated grounds for the Recall Petition, then an Recall Election in the Regional Assembly shall be called within 48 hours on the question of whether the holder of the office or position should be promptly removed from office on such grounds.
E - Voting shall be conducted for five days. With at quorum participating, the Recall shall pass if at least three-quarters of the votes cast support Recall. Approval of the Recall shall take immediate effect, and the vacancy created by the Recall shall be filled in the same manner as any other vacancy in such office or position. Recall shall otherwise have the same effect as removal by Impeachment trial.
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I wish I had known that this was going to be moved to Formal Discussion, I would have finalized the form to reflect the fact that this is a Constitutional Amendment to Article V, with changes to Section7 and adding Section 9.
 
Grosseschnauzer:
I wish I had known that this was going to be moved to Formal Discussion, I would have finalized the form to reflect the fact that this is a Constitutional Amendment to Article V, with changes to Section7 and adding Section 9.
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Then correct what you need and get it on with.
 
This is the formal discussion draft of this proposed Constitutional Amendment.
A Proposal for a Constitutional Amendment concerning impeachment by trial and impeachment by recall

Section 1. That Section 7 of Article V of the Constitution be amended to read as follows:

Section 7. Impeachment by Trial..

A - Any Regional Assembly Member may bringfile charges with the Court of The North Pacific against a Cabinet-level positionholder if they believe the officeholder has violated this Constitution or partaken in other gross misconduct. The Nation must provide enough evidence to a Grand Jury to warrant a trial.
B - A panel of five Regional Assembly members who are not holding a Cabinet-level position and who are shall be randomly selected from a jury pool not more than 72 hours after the charges are brought. The jury pool, of no less than twenty eligible jurors, shall be chosen in the first week of each three-month judicial term. The selected Grand Jury is to review any evidence given, and shall be selected by the Chief Justice to review the evidence given. If the Chief Justice is being impeached, the Prime Minister will summon randomly select the Grand Jury. If any jury member expresses a clear bias, they shall be excluded from the Grand Jury and replaced with another juror from the jury pool. The Grand Jury shall have not more than 96 hours to review and weigh the evidence cited in the complaint, and determine whether a trial is warranted.
C - All proceedings shall be recorded and sealed by the Chief Justice, or his/her designees, where applicable (including or by the Prime Minister if the Chief Justice is being impeached), until that officeholder is either exonerated or removed from office. Thereafter, the proceedings shall be published.
D - If the Grand Jury, by majority vote, decides that the given information provides a reasonable basis to warrant a trial for removal from office, the Chief Justice (or the Prime Minister, if the Chief Justice is being impeached) shall call a trial. This trial shall be conducted under the same rules as a criminal trial, except that the Prime Minister shall preside if the Chief Justice is being impeached, and all remaining Cabinet Ministers shall serve as the Jury. Should the defendant be found guilty, they will be immediately removed from office. After removal, the removed officeholder may be subject to expulsion from the Region following a separate criminal trial.
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Section 2. That a new Section 9 be added to Article V, authorizing a procedure for Impeachment by Recall:

Section 9. Impeachment by Recall Referendum.
A - Any elected or appointed holder of an Cabinet-level office, or any other position of the Regional Government, may be removed from office through Recall.
B - The Grounds for a Recall may be stated on any basis provided by Section 5 of this Article, and specifically includes misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance, or inactivity in office.
C - Recall may be initiated by the filing of notice to seek Recall with the Court. A petition shall thereafter be filed within seven days that is supported by not less than fifteen members of the Regional Assembly then in good standing, and filed with the Chief Justice (or with the Prime Minister, when any Justice of the Court is the subject of the petition). When filed, the petition shall describe the evidence that supports the specific grounds of the petition for Recall. This statement of evidence shall be publicly posted in an appropriate thread no later than the time at which a Recall Election is called.
D - Should the Chief Justice (or when necessary, the Prime Minister) find that a sufficient number of Regional Assembly members then in good standing support the Petition, and find that there is evidence that reasonably appears to support the stated grounds for the Recall Petition, then an Recall Election in the Regional Assembly shall be called within 48 hours on the question of whether the holder of the office or position should be promptly removed from office on such grounds.
E - Voting shall be conducted for five days. With a quorum participating, the Recall shall pass if at least three-quarters of the votes cast support Recall. Approval of the Recall shall take immediate effect, and the vacancy created by the Recall shall be filled in the same manner as any other vacancy in such office or position. Recall shall otherwise have the same effect as removal by Impeachment trial.
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Section 3. This amendment shall take effect upon ratification under Arrticle VII of the Constitution.
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Zemnaya Svoboda:
*Zemnaya Svoboda rereads it

Wait, why does the Chief Justice get control over what recall petitions get voted on?
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To make sure all the signatories are RA members, to make sure the process isn't being abused for politically motivated purposes, to give the referendum a legal backing; just off the top of my head.
 
It looks nice and makes sense.
But from my personal experience I can tell you it is an awful task to assemble a grand jury within a reasonable time. And if a trial follows you go through the same fun again.

What happens if you can't get a (grand) jury assembled within the given time? Usually this should lead to a cancellation of the trial because it is against the law.
Even if someone really deserves a trial he/she will most likely get away with it even if guilty.

It won't work.
 
Mr. Gaunt, I hadn't realized your post was in this thread until now, but here's the to part explanation.

First, the Regional Assembly and the Cabinet has already adopted change so that the RA member list can be kept current, and the Court has authority to help maintain the current accuracy of the RA member list.

Second, other legislation, already pending in the Regional Assembly will direct the creation of a jury pool during the first week of each judicial term. It can be used for grand juries (as has been the case for impeachment) and for trial juries. With the pre-drawn jury pool, and maintaining an always current list of jurors, that should permit the process to proceed on a timely bais.

One additional change could be to make jury service an obligation of Regional Assembly membership.

I'm not quite prepared to push that as a proposal yet, but itis something that could be disussed. However, it is not necessary to this proposal to resolve that question.
 
A majority of the Cabinet has voted to approve this Constitutional Amendment, and it is now ratified as part of the Constitution. Members of the Cabinet voted as follows:
Grosseschnauzer votes AYE.
Haor Chall votes AYE
Mesian AYE
Former English Colony
Southwest Asia ABSTAIN
Upper Kibry
Byardkuria votes AYE
Mental Imagination votes AYE
 
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