In re Replacing Representatives

In re Replacing Representatives, 16-009 (2016) is a case in which the Supreme Court of Saginaw Valley ruled 5-0 that the association is required to replaced Representatives who resign or who are removed, and allowed the 20-day time limit imposed in the Student Association By-Laws to stand. Justice Allison Martuch delivered the opinion of the court. The advisory ruling declared that the provision in the by-laws which says that replacing representatives is "at the discretion of the association," violates Article I § 7, Subsection 2 of the Student Association Charter, which reads: "the association shall elect a new member from the student body."

Writing for the court, Martuch found a conflict between those two provisions and, according to the order of precedence of the association's governing documents, she declared that the charter's provision should prevail.

"Failure to replace vacant Representative positions is a violation of the Charter and is unacceptable when in doing so, the Association is provided with a convenient guise or (and) does so under false pretense," the opinion reads.