Dinoium for Court Justice - Lex communis Omnium

[Dinoium]

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Preamble
My fellow citizens, you may know me as Dinoium or simply Dino. I have previously served as our Deputy Minister of Communications and Adjutant to the Deputy Minister of Defense and currently serves as Deputy Attorney General and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. I have studied our Region's laws have well. From the Constitution to the Legal Code, to the Bill of Rights to Treaties, to RA Rules to Court Procedures, and many other The North Pacifican Legal Documents. I have also read laws from Pacifica, Force, The East Pacific, and The South Pacific. Probably even a few more I have failed to mention. I decided to run for the Court after all this time for the greater good of the region. I am aware of my previous attempt and I admit I was naive then and wasn't the best at campaigning along with me making my candidacy thread late into the election. But it's been almost a year. I have learned my lesson and have been waiting for this moment for a long time. I care about The North Pacific. I run in elections for the benefit of the region. To make elections competitive and attempt to express my ideas to help the region I love the most. Now it's time to show what I can do.

Why are you running?
I believe I already addressed this mostly in the preamble but I don't see why not answering this one again. I'm running because I want to help benefit the Court and the Region. I shall definitely get more into that in this campaign.

What draws you to the Position of Court Justice?
The passion I have to love Law. I love both reading Nationstates and Real Life Laws. It is probably also that I want to expand my knowledge in this region. I have been in this year for almost 2 years and I want to continue getting involved. And it seems I draw to the position of Court Justice. People such as Bobberino and others I may have forgotten to disclose have told me I would to very well in a Judicial position such as Attorney General or Court Justice. And it doesn't even have to be this region. I absolutely agree with those people and I am completing that promise to become either of those two. Finally, what draws me to the position is the fact I already serve in a Judicial position of Deputy Attorney General and want to continue to be in some positions.

How can you benefit the Court?
I think a how I could better (or benefit) this position and the Court is to complete my goals in my platform which I shall discuss in this thread. Mainly, it would be working with my fellow colleagues on the Court and to discuss certain matters such as Requests For Reviews. I want a bipartisan, team-working Court which can issue verdicts and Court Decisions/Rulings in a quick and speedy matter.

How can you change the Court?
Again this is mostly a platform issue which I will get to but I will try to change the Court into an Active Government Judicial Body and bring more interest into this position.

Platform
These are some things I plan to do if elected:

• Turn the Court into an quick and speedy, active Governing Judicial Body.
• Encourage more Requests For Reviews and Court/Judicial engagements.
• Create a personal staff under me called "Law Clerks" (will get more into that).
• Continue the FIRST STOP program and work with the Attorney General's Office more (also will get more into that).
• Work in a bipartisan, cooperative, "team-working" matter with my fellow Justices to get the job done.
• Bring more interest into Court/Judicial Positions and make Judicial-related elections more competitively active.
• Personally review Regional Assembly resolutions/bills, see if it's legally binding, and give suggestions.

I may aswell elaborate more on this "Law Clerk" stuff. This staff will not be required by Law to exist. It would be like the Speaker's Staff in some ways. Mostly it will be comprised of new people or people not very familiarized with our Laws. I will help train my fellow Law Clerks our Regional Laws and help get them ready to become future Justices or Attorney Generals one day. They will also serve as Reminders for me on Judicial Matters and help me form my decision on a Request For Review and present our decision to the rest of the Justices. Now of course not all Justices need to adopt this idea. I just thought this would be good as a personal Judicial staff. I will also employ Mentors for this Law Clerk Staff that will help mentor my fellow Law Clerks our Regional Laws and getting them move involved in Legal matters in the region. The Mentorship will mainly comprise of former Justices/Attorney Generals or really anybody who is very well familiarized with our Regional Laws. They will also be able to participate in our decision-making and serve as reminders. Finally, those Mentors will be used to help advise me and the other Justices on Judicial matters.

I will also elaborate more on the FIRST STOP plan. If elected as a Justice, I will participate in this program or at least work with the Attorney General's Office more on this program. I support this program and currently a member of this program as Deputy Attorney General. While yes this program is mainly directed by the Attorney General's Office, I want to work with that same exact Office by giving some suggestions aswell to the Office directly rather than to the Request.

I am sorry if I failed to elaborate more on these other plans as part of my platform. If you have any questions on those plans or want me to elaborate more on those aswell, I am willing to. Overtime I will be adopting more plans and willing to hear suggestions for other plans.

How can I support this campaign?
One way is to help give suggestions or comments on this campaign thread. Another would be to publicly support this campaign by leaving support in this thread. Questions are also appreciated and a way to support this campaign. I want to be able to familiarize to campaign with all Citizens and Residents and answer any unanswered questions. You could also put this button in your signature:

[img]https://i.imgur.com/cp1BQHZ.png[/img]

Finally, the few other things you could to do to support this campaign are to change your status to something that is supportive of this campaign, advertising either my campaign thread or dispatch, or just simply voting for me. You don't need to do all of this to show support but if you definetly support me, you might want to vote for me.

Miscellaneous
I want to thank Artemis for giving me questions to answer for this campaign. You can find that RMB post here.
I want to thank every who helped get me here today and those who support/supported this campaign.

I am willing to answer any questions about this campaign or myself if you have any. Feel free to also leave tips and suggestions.

Dispatch link

Remember to vote Dinoium during the Voting Period (March 6, 2019 2:00 PM EST - March 11, 2019 2:00 PM EST)!

 

[Syrixia]

It appears you used the current, official TNP flag in your logo at the top of your OP, specifically in the words "Dinoium for Justice". As someone running for Justice, you should know about Chapter 10 of the Legal Code, Section 10.1, Clause 5: "The Coat of Arms of The North Pacific may not be used except to represent The North Pacific or an official regional entity."

And yet by your use of the official flag as the background for those words in your campaign logo, which definitely does not represent the TNP Government or an official regional entity, but rather a personal political campaign, you show that you either do not know this at all or you forgot about it, both of which are worrisome qualities for a potential Justice.

What are your thoughts on this matter?

 

[Dinoium]

It appears you used the current, official TNP flag in your logo at the top of your OP, specifically in the words "Dinoium for Justice". As someone running for Justice, you should know about Chapter 10 of the Legal Code, Section 10.1, Clause 5: "The Coat of Arms of The North Pacific may not be used except to represent The North Pacific or an official regional entity."

And yet by your use of the official flag as the background for those words in your campaign logo, which definitely does not represent the TNP Government or an official regional entity, but rather a personal political campaign, you show that you either do not know this at all or you forgot about it, both of which are worrisome qualities for a potential Justice.

What are your thoughts on this matter?

Ah, an interesting question indeed.

I would like to point out the Flag Clause of Cultural Declarations, the part of the Legal Code in which you quoted the Coat of Arms Clause.

The following flag, as designed by ThelDRan and updated by the Ministry of Culture of The North Pacific is adopted as the official flag of The North Pacific

Saying that I used our Coat of Arms illegaly is false. Nowhere does that mention the flag in general. Just because of the Coat of Arms may not be used except to represent The North Pacific or an official regional entity, doesn't mean using it on ThelDRan's is illegal. If this was the law:

The Flag of The North Pacific may not be used except to represent The North Pacific or an official regional entity.

then I would had never used it in my campaign. But this is not the law. If this were the case, then people like SillyString would be in trouble for flying our flag as her nation's flag and when Flag Day happens, people who fly our flag would be in trouble. Even the Regional Nation The Northern Light would be in trouble.

As for the old flag, while yes that Coat of Arms is used, doesn't mean i'll get in trouble. The old Coat of Arms can freely be used since it's not defined as the Coat of Arms anymore since October 28, 2015.

I will bring up a Request For Review for an example of precedent:
Justice Emeritus Hileville's ruling on Arms, Flag, and Seal.

As to the second questions posed to the Court: "2. Does Section 7.1, #4 of the Legal Code prohibit anyone who is not "an official regional entity" from flying the flag simply because it contains the coat of arms, despite the Legal Code containing no explicit prohibition against flying the flag?"

No it does not. The Legal Code specifically lists both the Coat of Arms and the Flag of the North Pacific as separate items. It is the belief of the Court that just because the flag contains an image of the Coat of Arms does not make the flag THE Coat of Arms. Therefore to be quite clear nations may fly the Flag of the North Pacific but may not fly the Coat of Arms of the North Pacific.

So in my underetanding of this all, I am authorized to use our regional flag for my campaign. So I do know this and I did, in fact, not forgot this Law. I did was aware of this when making that logo.

I do however thank you for the question and welcome more if any other were to arise.

 

[Oracle]

Please review the following Court Ruling.

Do you think that the Court ruled correctly?

What limits do you think the Court should have placed on the Powers of the Speaker?

What are your thoughts on Justices being appointed by the Delegate and confirmed by the Regional Assembly for a six month term?

Now to take a look at your platform:

Personally review Regional Assembly resolutions/bills, see if it's legally binding, and give suggestions.

Are you saying that you will personally review all bills passed by the Regional Assembly to see if they are legally binding and give suggestions as a Justice or a Citizen?

Are not all bills passed by the Regional Assembly legally binding unless otherwise stated in the language of the bill?

Does the court have the authority to block legislation before it has been passed by the Regional Assembly? Akin to a Veto threat from the Delegate?

Work in a bipartisan, cooperative, "team-working" matter with my fellow Justices to get the job done.

Are you suggesting that previous Justices have not been working in a bipartisan, cooperative, "team-working" manner (I assume that is what you meant with matter)?

How would you accomplish this? It is easy enough to state that "I am going to work with everyone" but how will you actually do that?

Create a personal staff under me called "Law Clerks"

Why is this needed? The court might here 1-3 cases a term. Wouldn't an individual be better served working with the AG to gain a better understanding of the laws?

Turn the Court into an quick and speedy, active Governing Judicial Body

I have concerns with this. I do not want to see a speedy court. I want to see a Court that issues sound rulings based on precedent and the laws. I want to see a court that does not make a error in their judgement by trying to push out a ruling or misspelling/improper grammar use/etc that might alter the ruling from what the Court intended.

I have concerns with what I am understanding you mean by an Active Governing Judicial Body. The Court is meant to try all criminal cases, resolve conflicts or ambiguities in the law, and review the constitutionality of laws or legality of government policies by request of an affected party. No where in the law does it state they are to govern. The court is active when it needs to be active. If the court is not needed then I do not expect them to be active or doing more than what is needed.

 

[Dinoium]

Please review the following Court Ruling.

Do you think that the Court ruled correctly?

I think the Court ruled correctly on this matter.

What limits do you think the Court should have placed on the Powers of the Speaker?

I don't think the Court placed any limits on the Speaker. Rather, I think the Court provided guidances for the Speaker as they were supposed to do. If I had to think of a limit, probably it was that the Court gave limits to the Speaker on what they could administrate based off the Constitution.

What are your thoughts on Justices being appointed by the Delegate and confirmed by the Regional Assembly for a six month term?

Honestly I don't think it would be the end of the world. I support having many elected positions in this region as one way people can get involved in the region. However, I'm not entirely against appointed Justices either. We have a system like that in Pacifica and it works. My only questions would be:
What if a Justice gets rejected?

What if the confirmations aren't finished on time before their term ends?

Is there a limit to amount of terms a Justice could have?

And probably others. I am willing to answer those questions if needed to. I do however would like to point out the concern former Justice Lore made about this idea:

My thoughts are that would turn the Court from a Co-Equal Branch with the Executive and Legislature and transform it into Fiefdom of the Executive for the Delegate to gift out seats to their friends or anyone friendly with them. And it would make it so that any Review or Criminal Case involving the Executive branch would be automatically conflicted, generally not interested to turn the Court into a Ministry,

Now to take a look at your platform:


Are you saying that you will personally review all bills passed by the Regional Assembly to see if they are legally binding and give suggestions as a Justice or a Citizen?

I mention in the OP that I would personally review that. However, I would also work with my fellow Justices to review them aswell. The reason why I say personally is because I will do whether the other Justices work with me or not. Most likely I'll review them when they are in discussion and if their current draft is unconstitutional, grossly illegal, or anything else of that sorts, I will give suggestions on how they could become legally binding. However, if they never adopt the legally binding suggestions and it still isn't legally binding, I will review it with my fellow Justices (if they wish to work with me on this) and deem its legal status. I will give suggestions as both though if you're asking for one. I would give them as a Citizen while its in discussion. It would of course be another story if we're referring to after the vote or during voting. Either way whether I'm elected or not, I'll still give legal suggestions for bills though I won't have the ultimate authority to deem its legality. I have once gave legal suggestions to BluieGamer on their Election bill before it was presented to the Regional Assembly.

Are not all bills passed by the Regional Assembly legally binding unless otherwise stated in the language of the bill?

Most bills passed are Legal Binding HOWEVER we cannot afford the risk of having something coming under the radar that isn't legally binding.

Does the court have the authority to block legislation before it has been passed by the Regional Assembly? Akin to a Veto threat from the Delegate?

I have already addressed but I'll take a different approach this time. The Court does not have the direct authority to stop a law while in Discussion but if it does conflict with the Standing Procedures, we may take the approach steps of alerting the Speaker. Now, The Court (referring to the Government Body, not the Justices directly as they can make laws due to their Citizenship) doesn't create laws nor will it ever. The Court can definitely give guidances and decide the legal binding of a certain Law or Legislation. Most likely my plan would be to make sure Bills do become Legally binding before the vote. However, if something not legally binding passes the Regional Assembly, we can take the appropriate steps. Now of course we can't effectively shut down a Law unless a Review For Review is put into place surrounding it however if people are aware of these flaws, they can definitely challenge its Legal Binding in Court. Quoting the Constitution:

4. The official opinion of the Court in any trial or review will be binding on all Government bodies and officials.

The Government Body we are referring to is the Regional Assembly. Our official opinion in any trial or review will be binding on Regional Assembly Laws and Discussions.

Are you suggesting that previous Justices have not been working in a bipartisan, cooperative, "team-working" manner (I assume that is what you meant with matter)?

Absolutely not. That is not what I am suggesting. Why do you think Requests For Review's Court Rulings opinion is drafted and joined by the Court as a whole? When I said this:

• Work in a bipartisan, cooperative, "team-working" matter with my fellow Justices to get the job done.

I mean I, myself, will do that. I know all of our Justices have and always will work together in these matters to please the Citizen whom requested such a review or trial. All I'm saying is I will also do this. I want to do what's best for the region.

How would you accomplish this? It is easy enough to state that "I am going to work with everyone" but how will you actually do that?

I believe you are referring to the above question. How I will be doing this is simple actually. I'm going to be working in a bipartisan, cooperative, "team-working" matter. I'm going to listen to my fellow Justice's opinions on the trial or request. I will also give my opinions and try to work together with my fellow Justices to draft the ultimate opinion for the trial or request.

Why is this needed? The court might here 1-3 cases a term. Wouldn't an individual be better served working with the AG to gain a better understanding of the laws?

March to July
Requests for Review
(No Title)
Yukkira (Withdrawn)
Election Commission Rules (Withdrawn)
July to November
Requests for Review
Election Commission Ruling in the Past General Election
Requests for Indictment
The North Pacific V. Bill Kennedy (Withdrawn)
November to March
Requests for Review
General Election January 2019
Citizenship Oath Amendment
Freedom of Importance Act and Discord
(No Title) (Withdrawn)
Requests for Review (Peanut Gallery)
Citizenship Oath Amendment
I can understand your argument at first but if we're going to take a look at our current term, that isn't the case. Not matter the amount of trials or cases, I think the Law Clerk idea would be a good idea to implement. And perhaps, but if you're going to say that the AG is someone who understands the law better than a Court Justice, you would be wrong. The Court is equally as Legal Intelligent as the AG Office and both would be a good learning experience. This is what I can promise, the Court and AG COE has worked together before on a project (FIRST STOP program) and if elected, I'm willing to work with the AG Office on this project. Now, it would be more on the Court's control than AG's Office but I would love the amount of help needed to make this come true.

I have concerns with this. I do not want to see a speedy court. I want to see a Court that issues sound rulings based on precedent and the laws. I want to see a court that does not make a error in their judgement by trying to push out a ruling or misspelling/improper grammar use/etc that might alter the ruling from what the Court intended.

I'm willing to address this concern. I agree that we should have sound rulings based on precedent and the Laws however I also believe this should be addressed sooner than later. I don't want the Citizenship having to wait for a ruling like what happened with the Barbarossistan R4R. That lasted for 3 months and it could had continued. The definition of a speedy trial:

n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy trial

Now I don't just refer this to just Criminal prosecutions and trials nor does it have to relate to an accused Resident or Citizen of Criminal Misconduct. I refer to Requests for Review, Court Trials, Bill Reviews, etc. This is my definition of a speedy court based off of the previous definition:

In all court matters, the accused and petitioner shall enjoy the right to a speedy trial or review.

I do think the Court should take its time but we should be able to address situations in a reasonable amount of time. Not weeks or months. A week, fine. Two weeks, also fine. But I don't want something dragging on for so long. As for grammatical errors, we can simply address them very well. My proposed Law Clerk system can also help look for grammatical errors and address them. If you were asking this concern due to my grammatical errors or just in general, I have answered that.

I have concerns with what I am understanding you mean by an Active Governing Judicial Body. The Court is meant to try all criminal cases, resolve conflicts or ambiguities in the law, and review the constitutionality of laws or legality of government policies by request of an affected party. No where in the law does it state they are to govern. The court is active when it needs to be active. If the court is not needed then I do not expect them to be active or doing more than what is needed.

When I say a Governing Judicial Body, I refer to the Judicial Body (The Court). It is a Government body. Here is a definition of a Court.

A court is any person or institution with authority to judge or adjudicate, often as a government institution

Now would the term "government institution" be a better term to use? Sure. But that's besides the point. When I saying a Governing Judicial Body, I mean it as a Government Institution. The definition of a Governing Body:

a group of people who formulate the policy and direct the affairs of an institution in partnership with the managers, especially on a voluntary or part-time basis.

The group of people are the Court Justices. The policy we formulate is a Court Ruling or verdict. We (the Court Justices) direct the affairs regarding Judicial Reviews and Court Trials of the institution (the Court).

I hope you are pleased with my answers. If any, feel free to object to them. I also am open to more questions and concerns.

 

[mcmasterdonia]

Will you drop out and endorse one of your opponents during the race?

 

[Dinoium]

Will you drop out and endorse one of your opponents during the race?

No i'm not dropping out but thanks for the offer. However if I were to drop out and endorse one of my oppoents, I would say Elu. Elu has done a great job as Justice and I apprectiate their work on the Court. Also their Harry Potter statements along with others.

 

[Yuno]

Dino, your plat form is the most well designed of all of them, in my eyes. I have hopes for you! You were a Deputy Attorney General, and in fact the one who motivated me to run for AG in the past, so you are an inspiring official! Good luck and hope to see you in more future roles in TNP if this one doesn't play out, though I know that you read the Legal Code, at least

 

[Dinoium]

Dino, your plat form is the most well designed of all of them, in my eyes. I have hopes for you! You were a Deputy Attorney General, and in fact the one who motivated me to run for AG in the past, so you are an inspiring official! Good luck and hope to see you in more future roles in TNP if this one doesn't play out, though I know that you read the Legal Code, at least

Thanks.

 

[Great Bights Mum]

Regarding judiciary involvement in the First Stop program, if a judge has a hand in drafting R4Rs, would that not impact the impartiality of the court?

 

[Dinoium]

Regarding judiciary involvement in the First Stop program, if a judge has a hand in drafting R4Rs, would that not impact the impartiality of the court?

Ah a good question. Now I don't mean to cause any confusion so don't worry.
Now perhaps I or any Judge wanted to help draft a R4R, I do sense a bias when helping draft a ruling or opinion on the R4R. I know I may have said previously I might help with the R4R draftings but that does conflict with my previous statements so I will clear this up. Most likely my only involvement in the FIRST STOP program would really to include the Law Clerks into it to help with the AG Office. If I were to personally help, I would rescue myself on that matter as I don't want to make the case unfair and biased. I did also mention that the Law a Clerks would help draft the Opinion with the Court didn't I now? Most likely I won't mandate all of my Law Clerks in this new system to help with the R4R. I would probably assign some to help and in exchange rescue theirselves from helping draft the Opinion of the Court.


So yes that would impeach the impartially of the Court but I have addressed this issue in this message. Should you have any more questions or concerns, let me know.