Petition for Emergency Injunctive Relief and Writ of Mandamus The purpose of this petition is to two-fold: to seek emergency

injunctive relief within 24 hours of submission prohibiting the GUSA Senate from meeting until the question of the Speakership is resolved, and to seek a writ of mandamus requiring the Student Association to recognize Senator Sam Greco as the Speaker of the Student Association Senate. On December 8th 2013 former Speaker George Spyropoulos tendered his resignation to the GUSA Senate. At the instance in which that resignation was accepted by the Senate, according to Section 2.05(e) of the GUSA By-Laws, Vice-Speaker Greco assumed the speakership. President Tisa, according to the minutes of the meeting, confirmed this fact. The by-laws state absolutely no procedural mechanism beyond the resignation of the outgoing Speaker necessary for the Vice-Speaker to assume the role. Thus, the petitioner holds that Greco was the rightfully the Speaker of the Senate for over a month when the Senate reconvened in the new year. On January 12th 2014, Vice-President Ramadan entered the Senate and held a confirmation vote for Speaker Greco which, after a period of questioning, resulted in 9 votes for to 13 against. A subsequent election for Speaker was held by Vice-President Ramadan and won by Senator Emily Ziegler. This confirmation vote does not reflect the procedure expressly laid out for succession to the Speakership by the governing by-laws nor the GUSA Constitution. While some have cited precedent as a reason for why this vote might be valid, never before has such precedent remotely altered a legitimate state of affairs in favor of ambiguity and improvisation. Furthermore, in the most recent instance when a similar situation occurred the procedure differed markedly from what transpired at the meeting in question. As a result, the Petitioner views any appeal to precedent in this issue as both inaccurate historically and inappropriate from a statutory perspective. To be removed from their duties, any officer of the Senate according to Section 2.10 of the GUSA By-Laws must be given a fair hearing and the motion for their removal must receive a unanimous vote of the Ways and Means Committee. Only then may a vote of the full Senate be taken to consider relieving a Senator of his or her duties at which time a vote for removal must be achieved. Furthermore, both the Constitution and the By-Laws prescribe that an election for Vice-Speaker should be held upon the position becoming vacant. This election was never held. In the absence of all of these procedural requirements at meeting in question, the removal of Speaker Greco from his duties would be patently discordant with the explicitly stated provisions of the by-laws. With these facts established, petitioner therefore seeks a writ of mandamus requiring the Student Association to recognize Senator Sam Greco as the Speaker of the Senate effective December 8 2013.

This petition also seeks an emergency injunction from the Constitutional Council to prevent the Senate from meeting until petitioners request for mandamus is resolved. The Petitioner believes that it is fundamentally important for the procedural and electoral health of GUSA that the results of an illegitimate election be held from entering into force, at least until full consideration of the procedure in question is resolved in a manner deemed constitutional by the Council. Without this injunction, the procedural and institutional legitimacy of GUSA enter a precarious state. With important electoral and fiduciary decisions for the Association on the near-term horizon, it is essential that this process be carried through in an orderly and civil manner. By-Laws section 5.02 empowers the Speaker of the Senate to call special sessions of the Senate at his or her discretion. With two competing claimants to the Speakership, the potential discord from two competing Senate sessions would cause irreparable harm to the Student Association and those who depend on its stable functioning. The Petitioner believes that Constitutional Council is the proper venue for the correction of this situation. The GUSA Constitution States that, The interpretive power of the Student Association of Georgetown University shall be vested in one Constitutional Council. (Art. III, Sec. 1) This issue lays at the heart of the reason for the Councils creation. The Council exists for the resolution of disputes and investigation of key questions pertaining to GUSAs statutory documents.