University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Student Association President Russ Rueden is refusing to release the names of the three applicants for the open justice position on the University Student Court, saying it’s a “personnel issue.”

The court cannot function legally until a third justice is appointed, which Rueden said would happen “as soon as possible.” The court has been out of operation since former Chief Justice Stan Rubins resigned on Feb. 24.

Several members of SA have said that because the position is ultimately a presidential appointment, Rueden is the only person who has access to the applications and knows the names of the applicants.

The Post asked Rueden five times for the names of the applicants for the open justice position. He did not return three phone calls and declined twice in person to fulfill the request.

Rueden said Sunday that he would e-mail the three applicants and forward the UWM Post’s contact information to them so they could contact the newspaper if they wished to have their names printed.

After the Post received no e-mails from anyone indicating they had applied to be a justice on the University Student Court, the newspaper asked Rueden for the names a second time. Rueden said he would contact the three applicants by phone and ask if they wanted their names released.

At press time, the Post did not receive any phone calls or e-mails from the applicants or from Rueden.

Following Rueden’s declination, the Post consulted with the university’s Open Records Custodian Amy Watson regarding fulfilling a request for the applicants’ names.

According to Watson, if the names of the applicants “are within the exclusive possession of the Student Association, they are not subject to Wisconsin Public Records Law, as the SA is “a separate legal entity from UWM.”

“My interpretation of Wisconsin Public Records Law — and the UWM Office of Legal Affairs and UW System Office of General Counsel agree — is that Student Association records are not subject to Wisconsin Public Records Law because SA does not fit the definition of an ‘authority’ as provided in Wis. Stat. 19.32(1),” Watson said in an e-mail.

2 interviews conducted, 1 left

Rueden did say that there were three applicants for the open seat on the court and that he had conducted two interviews last week and would conduct the final interview sometime this week.

Addressing the SA Senate at its April 2 meeting, Rueden said choosing a justice for the University Student Court was important because of the body’s power.

“You have a branch of government that’s incredibly powerful — they’ve decided the election the last few years,” he said at the meeting. “You need an applicant who is one, smart enough, and two, capable enough.”

According to Rueden, the decision, although ultimately his call, would be a consensus of the SA.

“I’ve assembled a broad group of senators and other SA members to help me,” he said. “Whatever decision I ultimately make will generally be a consensus appointment.”

The applications themselves have undergone some drastic changes, Rueden said.

“The (current) applications are incredibly complex,” he said. “In the past, there were, I think, two questions: why do you want to be a justice and what is your leadership experience?”

Application process tougher

The current applications require the applicant to demonstrate knowledge of Supreme Court precedents, the Wisconsin Code of Judicial Conduct, the University Student Court bylaws and the relationship between the court and student organizations, among other groups — all of which relate directly to a justice’s duties, Rueden said.

The duties of a University Student Court justice include government moderation, ensuring the court does not overstep its own powers and limitations and settling conflicts with student organizations and student government, among others.

Rueden said that in the past when there was a vacant seat on the court, “the first person who applied got it,” which he said often resulted in decisions that were not well thought out.

A qualified applicant would be an upperclassman, Rueden said.

“They have to know … what’s acceptable in a court, what’s not,” he said. “And you don’t start to learn that until you get into the 300-level classes.”

Among other qualifications, Rueden said an applicant should have a strong personality and a broad knowledge of how the branches of government work.

“We want the court to be less like ‘Judge Judy’ and more like a real court,” Rueden said.

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