BREAKING: Boyer to remain off ballot

The Decision and Orders of the Court, affirming the JEC's rulings, can be downloaded here.

From the decision (almost the whole thing):

In a 2-1 decision, this Court finds:

that the Joint Elections Committee did not abuse its discretion with regard to JEC Finding of Fact and Order S09-056, and

that the Joint Elections Committee did not abuse its discretion with regard to JEC Finding of Fact and Order S09-057.

Therefore, this Court orders:

that JEC Order S09-056 be affirmed,

that JEC Order S09-057 be affirmed, and

that the order of disqualification against Mr. Boyer be affirmed.

While the members of this Court disagree with the analysis of the JEC, and perhaps even the outcome, they recognize the deference due to the JEC and cannot find an instance of abuse of discretion.

A formal opinion will be issued by this Court in compliance with the Bylaws of the Student Court.


IT IS SO ORDERED.

Christopher Wimbush
Chief Judge

This is the most interesting part:

While the members of this Court disagree with the analysis of the JEC, and perhaps even the outcome, they recognize the deference due to the JEC and cannot find an instance of abuse of discretion.

The opinion will definitely be an interesting read. In my estimation, the court just gave the JEC a lot of discretionary power that it did not enjoy before. No doubt the opinion will come with a lot of warnings to future JECs.

Also, the "abuse of discretion" standard will now most likely be the standard for going after JEC decisions in the future, not "arbitrary and capricious." Those words are not found anywhere in the Decision and Orders. Boyer was fighting to establish arbitrary and capricious behavior, the JEC contended that the abuse of discretion standard was the yard stick that should be used by the court.

Congratgulations James Bonneau and the JEC. You argued a good case.

Bindelglass v. Polk will move forward tomorrow.