Bill: Proposed Court Privileges Amendment

[xXLordLyonXx]

Author: Lysander Lyon, MP
Sponsor: N/A
Type: Act of Parliament

A
BILL
TO
Amend the Court Reformation Act​

Preamble: The current judicial setup does not sufficiently distinguish the Supreme Court as the highest court in the land. These reforms enable the Court to better reflect its prestige.

1. Short Title & Enactment
(a) This bill shall be referred to as the “Court Privileges Amendment”.
(b) This bill was authored by Lysander Lyon.
(c) This bill amends the Court Reformation Act.

2. Verdict Appeals
(a) A new section, titled 6. Verdict Appeals, shall be added to the Court Reformation Act, as established below:

6. Verdict Appeals
(a) Verdict appeals shall follow a different format for legal arguments, instead of the single argument in favor of and opposing the appeal outlined in Section 5.
(b) After an appeal is granted, the appellant shall provide an opening statement for why they believe the District Court “got it wrong” and the result should be overturned.
(c) After the appellant’s opening statement, the appellee shall provide an opening statement for why they believe the District Court got it right and the result should not be overturned.
(d) Following opening statements, the Supreme Court may ask questions of the appellant, to better understand the appellant’s legal position, ask about applicable laws, and so on.
(e) When the Supreme Court is prepared to move on, they may ask questions of the appellee, to better understand the appellee’s legal position, ask about applicable laws, and so on.
(f) If the Supreme Court needs to summon a witness or third party from the original trial to the court to ask questions of, they may do so after completing the appellee’s questioning.
(g) Once all questions have been asked, the Supreme Court shall advance to closing statements, with the appellant answering first and the appellee answering after.
(h) The Supreme Court shall then deliberate and return a ruling.
(i) The time for each of these stages, and for party responses, should generally be set at 48 hours. The Supreme Court has discretion in changing this if needed, but the default time should be 48 hours.
(j) Only individuals who have received the in-game Lawyer role for passing the university exam, and hold the role at the time of the appeal and for its entire duration, are to be considered valid counsel at the Supreme Court for arguing a verdict appeal.

(b) The original section 6, Additional Court Changes, shall be renamed to section 7.

3. Amicus Curiae Briefs
(a) A new section, titled 8. Amicus Curiae Briefs, shall be added to the Court Reformation Act, as established below:

8. Amicus Curiae Briefs
(a) Non-affiliated entities or persons with interest in a case may only request to file an amicus curiae brief in a case before the Supreme Court.
(i) The case may be in the process of being appealed, or may be being heard for the first time. So long as it is before the Supreme Court, requests to file an amicus curiae brief are allowed to be made.
(b) An individual wishing to file an amicus curiae brief should submit one message to the case thread outlining who they are, why they wish to submit a brief, and what relevance the brief would have to the case.
(c) The Supreme Court shall consider this submission and then make a determination on whether to allow the brief to be filed.
(i) If the Supreme Court rejects the brief, that decision is final, and the individual may not resubmit the request.
(d) Amicus curiae briefs may be objected to by the main parties of the lawsuit.
(e) When the Supreme Court decides to hear a case, whether it be on appeal or whether it is the first time the case is being heard in court at all and there will be a full trial, they shall set a deadline for amicus curiae briefs to be filed by.
(i) These briefs must be filed before a party is summoned to begin closing arguments; must be publicly posted in the court thread; and the parties must be given at least forty eight hours to review all amicus curiae briefs before closing arguments can begin.
(f) These briefs are not allowed in the District Court.

Enactment: This Act comes into force immediately upon passage.