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Inside this Issue
A tale of two documents A comparison of the impeachment memo filed against four of the SG Supreme Court justices and a trial request submitted to the Court on the same day shows similar language. n
By Abby Rinaldi O PINIO N
Donald Trump flops on SNL, can’t “take the joke.” Page 6
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The release of a trial request submitted by student body Vice President Michael Malanga and Student Government (SG) Chief Financial Officer Sandra Sawan Lara has raised some questions about the impeachment investigation currently surrounding four of the six SG Supreme Court justices, including Ranking Justice Milton Llinas and Associate Justice Chelsea Lo. In previous interviews with the Oracle, Chief Justice Lindsay Betros and Senior Justice Alec Waid talked about the — at points — verbatim wording found in the documents. The memo for impeachment was submitted by SG senators Megan Summers, Muhammad Imam, Aladdin Hiba and AlaEldean Elmunaier. However,
Waid and Betros doubt the senators who signed the memo wrote it. “The differences lie in the fact that malfeasance, misfeasance, nonfeasance, incompetence and
4:21 p.m. while the memo was submitted on the same day at 5:50 p.m. The Senate meeting, during which the memo was introduced, started at 6 p.m. The memo didn’t reach
“This shows clear collusion in an effort to attack the judicial branch. This type of language doesn’t happen on accident.” Alec Waid Senior Justice, Student Government Supreme Court
abuse of power were put into the impeachment memo because of the relevance to the blanket allegations,” Waid said. The trial request, Betros said, was recently released as a public record. Compared side by side, the documents have similarities not only in wording but in timing. The trial request was submitted to the Court Oct. 27 at
senators aside from its signees until after the meeting, which sparked efforts to postpone the creation of the committee, efforts that ultimately failed due to necessities in Senate procedure. The wording between the two documents is at points verbatim, while other places contain either paraphrased or slightly reworded passages. The memo does
by grassroots organization People United for Medical Marijuana through the campaign United For Care, which is not unfamiliar with the USF campus. A recent poll of registered voters in Florida conducted by Bay News 9 showed 62 percent of registered voters in college would vote to approve the amendment. Before the 2014 election, members of the campaign joined “students and other organizations on campus to show the public” the support the campaign has garnered. Orlando-based attorney John Morgan, a major supporter of the campaign, was featured in a question-and-answer session at the event. At the time of print, the amendment is not confirmed as part of the ballot, so there are no such rallies planned.
The Florida Right to Medical Marijuana Initiative, known as amendment 2, may be on the 2016 ballot, as the Florida Supreme Court is currently reviewing it ahead of the upcoming elections. In 2014, the Initiative failed on the ballot after getting 3 percent shy of the required supermajority vote (60 percent). Since then, United For Care has reworked its campaign to address criticism from opponents who argued minors could purchase medical marijuana without parental consent. The Bay News 9 poll revealed 56 percent of registered voters in high school — a majority of whom are minors in terms of the sale of alcohol, which may be a similar standard for marijuana sales — would approve the amendment. The new language in the
contain original writing, but the majority of the content refers to the instances and particulars discussed in the trial request. For example, point three of the trial request (paragraph four), contains 10 sentences, seven of which are reproduced either fully or partially in the impeachment memo and only one of those seven directly quoting SG statutes. The lead up to this quotation, however, was exactly the same in both documents. In another case, two of five verbatim sentences in the seventh paragraph of the trial request contained direct quotations of SG statutes. As with the previous quotation, the setup was the same in the memo and the trial request. The sentences were not rearranged in either of these instances. The impeachment memo
n See DOCS on PAGE 2
Legalization amendment adjusts, Bondi backs off By Grace Hoyte E D I T O R
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The strangers loitering around the Library and Cooper Hall with clipboards full of petitions for the legalization of medical marijuana may have given a small fist pump Monday when one of their biggest adversaries sidelined herself. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has remained outside of the discussion for adding the legalization amendment to the ballot next year, According to the Tampa Bay Times. “Based on the Court’s decision in 2014, I have not filed a legal challenge to the current amendment,” Bondi said in the Times’ article. “But my concerns with it are the same.” The amendment was proposed
amendment also clarifies that only specific conditions and “other debilitating medical conditions of the same kind or class as or comparable to those enumerated,” according to the Times. Also according to the Bay News 9 poll, 72 percent of voters who listed “health care” as a top issue would approve the amendment. Additionally, the amendment was revised to include a provision for preventing drug dealers from easily obtaining caregiver cards by setting high qualification standards and enforcing annual background checks, according to the Times. With normally outspoken legalization adversary Bondi sitting this one out, United For Care will look forward to the Court’s ruling on the new language, and supporters of the amendment will keep their fingers crossed.