Federation Council The Federation Council was the unicameral legislature of the United Federation of Planets . Seats on the Council were filled by representatives from the various Federation members . In 2286 , the Council convened in San Francisco . ( ; ; ; ) In 2371 , as part of a ruse to get Ensign Harry Kim to buy worthless Lobi crystal s , Quark told Kim that he should tell his commanding officer , Kathryn Janeway , that the Federation Council would be getting an official query from him regarding Kim being warned about Ferengi . ( ) In late 2372 , Chancellor Gowron sent a message to the Council , telling them that the Klingon Empire would not give up Cardassian planets which the Empire had captured . He also told them to withdraw Federation forces from the Archanis sector and Archanis IV . ( ) In 2374 , the Council sent a message to Grand Nagus Zek that Ensign Nog was to deliver . Jake Sisko believed it might have been a proposal for an alliance between the Ferengi Alliance and the Federation . ( ) In a Dominion simulation , Benjamin Sisko was told the Founder s were meeting with the Council and that the Council thought trusting the Founders was " worth the risk " . ( ) In a Section 31 holoprogram , the Council gave Luther Sloan authority to investigate a security breach on Deep Space 9 . ( ) In 2376 , Zar informed Varn that " Captain Janeway " – i . e . Dala – had influence with the Federation Council and could speed up Varn ' s application for Federation membership . ( ) Council members . Membership in the Council was considered an incredible honor . T ' Pau of Vulcan was the only person to have refused a seat on the Council as of 2267 . ( ) The election of Federation councilors was one of the tasks that Bajor would have had to complete if it joined the Federation . ( ) Jonathan Archer served on the Federation Council , representing United Earth , from 2175 to 2183 , before being elected president in 2184 . ( ) In the 2360s , Jaresh - Inyo represented his world on the Federation Council before he was elected president . ( ) Council decisions . In 2286 , the Federation Council deliberated what the Federation ' s position would be regarding the issue of the premature formation of the Genesis Planet . To that end , Starfleet Commander Admiral Morrow ordered the crew of the to withhold their knowledge of the planet to anyone until they could make official policy . The Council also ordered that no one aside from the science team aboard the would be allowed to approach the planet . ( ) The Federation Council met three months later to consider the actions of Admiral James T . Kirk and his crew regarding his violation of these orders , their sabotage of the and their theft and destruction of the " Enterprise . " However , in gratitude for the crew ' s work in saving Earth from the Whale Probe , the Council dismissed all but one charge and demoted Kirk to the rank of captain and , as befitting an officer of that rank , " sentencing " him to command a starship . ( ) In 2366 , the Council was called into emergency session when a Romulan defector provided information on a possible Romulan invasion fleet arming near Nelvana III . They determined that the , the Starfleet ship on site , should assume anything Admiral Alidar Jarok said was a lie . ( ) In 2369 , the Federation Council promised Ambassador Ves Alkar safe passage back to his homeworld after bringing peace to Rekag - Seronia . Alkar expected Picard to fulfil that agreement , regardless of his , Alkar ' s , crimes . ( ) In 2370 , the Council would decide on the Cairn joining the Federation . Ambassador Lwaxana Troi was preparing the Cairn for their meeting with the Council . ( ) Later that year , the Council imposed a warp 5 speed limit on all Federation vessels and vessels within UFP territory , except in dire circumstances . This law was revoked when improvements in warp drive were achieved . ( ; ; ) Shortly thereafter , the Council began debate on the ratification of the Federation - Cardassian Treaty . It rejected a request by a Human representative to re - negotiate the status of Dorvan V and ordered the evacuation of all Federation citizens from the planet . ( ) In 2372 , the Federation Council condemned the Klingon invasion of the Cardassian Union and agreed to provide twelve industrial replicator s to help rebuild the devastated Cardassian industrial base . ( ) In 2375 , Starfleet Admiral Dougherty claimed that the Federation Council had been responsible for the decision to forcibly relocate the Ba ' ku from their world in cooperation with the Son ' a . After the contacted the Federation , the Council announced they would perform a top - level review of the situation and halt the relocation of the Ba ' ku . ( ) Later that year , the Federation Council was responsible for the decision not to give the Founder s the cure to the morphogenic virus , as they felt it would give the Dominion the upper hand in the war . ( ) " In an alternate 2390 , the Federation Council offered to drop the charges of conspiracy against Chakotay and Harry Kim if they returned a Borg temporal transmitter and stood down when those two tried to send a message back to 2375 . " ( ) Appendices . Background information . One person who witnessed the on - set filming of the Federation Council in was John Schuck , who portrayed the Klingon Ambassador therein . He recalled , " " It was exciting , because around 4 : 00 a . m . , all these other people who are in that assembly hall were there , so suddenly there were 25 makeup people , there were all these hair people , and you really had this throwback to the days of Hollywood extravagance [ . . . ] It was much more fun [ than other movies ] , because in addition to real people , they had all these bizarre creatures that worked , that moved . " " ( " " issue # 138 , p . 29 ) Apocrypha . In the novel " Articles of the Federation " by Keith R . A . DeCandido , the Federation Council is depicted as being housed in a fifteen - story building in Paris called the Palais de la Concorde . The Council chambers are located on the first floor , while the presidential office is located on the top floor . In , however , the Council is depicted as being located in San Francisco , and makes mention of the Federation Council building being replicated by Species 8472 in their recreation of the city . The screen in also lists the council as being in San Francisco . However , it has never been explicitly confirmed in the canon that San Francisco is the primary or only meeting place of the Council , leading to some leeway for the novels . In the earlier novel " A Time for War , A Time for Peace " , also by DeCandido , the Council itself determines who is qualified to run for president on the basis of anonymous petitions for candidacy . In " Articles " , it is divided into a number of " sub councils , " the equivalent of a legislative committee , to which the president appoints members with the full Council ' s approval . The Security Council , for instance , deals with matters of Federation security , while the Judiciary Council can make rulings on judiciary matters ( that seem to overrule those of the Federation Supreme Court ) . The novel also implies there is only one councilor per member , although " Rapture " makes mention of councilors needing to be selected for Bajor ' s admittance to the Federation ; it was not clear if this meant that Bajor would have multiple councilors or if the character was simply speaking generally . In " Star Trek IV " , there are several Humans , Vulcans , Andorians , etc . seated in the Council chambers ; however , any number of those individuals may be guests ( such as Spock was ) . In short , the make - up and location of the Council is somewhat vague and open to interpretation based upon canonical evidence . However , based solely upon on - screen evidence , the council appears to be a .