The Constitution

We the People of Voices of Democracy, establish this Constitution.

#### Overview

**§1.** The Parliament shall be the primary legislative body of Voices of Democracy and shall represent the interests of the people by wielding legislative authority.

**§2.** Parliament shall consist of two houses. These being the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each house of Parliament may regulate their own rules and procedures as they see fit.

**§3.** The Parliament shall have the power to pass legislation into law.

**§4.** Members of either house of Parliament may not concurrently be a Judge or Supreme Court Justice.

**§5.** The number of seats in both houses of Parliament shall be individually determined by the Head of State at any point as they see fit.

**§6.** A member of either house of Parliament shall only be forcibly expelled from Parliament in the event of a successful impeachment against them.

**§7.** Parliament may decide to put legislation to a public referendum. In such cases, legislation will become law if it obtains a simple majority vote in support from the public referendum.

**§7.1.** Parliament may also put material before the public in a non-binding referendum.

**§8.** Parliament shall have the power to subpoena individuals as they see fit.

**§9.** Each house of Parliament shall have the authority to conduct oversight into government bodies and persons and shall have the power to subpoena current and former government officials.

#### **The House of Representatives**

**§1.** The House of Representatives shall be the lower house of Parliament.

**§1.1.** A Member of the House of Representatives shall be known as a Member of Parliament or a Representative.

**§2.** The government (also known as the executive branch) shall always answer to the House of Representatives.

**§3.** The House of Representatives shall have the authority to initiate an impeachment against anyone holding public office.

**§4.** The House of Representatives shall never be dissolved except to make way for a new Parliament after an election.

**§5.** Elections for the House of Representatives shall occur when the Head of State or the Prime Minister calls an election.

**§5.1.** When the Prime Minister calls an election, they must get approval from the Head of State for what date and time the election will take place.

**§5.1.1.** In cases where the Prime Minister calls an election, if the Head of State feels it is necessary or proper, they may schedule the election without approval from the Prime Minister.

**§5.2.** A Prime Minister shall not have the power to call an election unless they have been appointed Prime Minister during the current term.

#### **The Senate**

**§1.** The Senate shall be the upper house of Parliament.

**§1.1.** A member of the Senate shall be known as a Senator.

**§2.** The Head of State, whenever they see fit, may establish or dissolve a Senate.

**§2.1.** Senate elections shall occur only when the Head of State calls a Senate election.

**§2.1.1.** The Head of State may decide to hold elections for specific Senate seats instead of the Senate as a whole.

**§2.1.1.** The Head of State may declare at any time that the Senate shall no longer be an elected house of Parliament. In such a case, Parliament shall decide the process for appointing Senators.

**§2.1.1.1.** The Head of State may reverse such a declaration as they see fit.

**§3.** Legislation originating from the House of Representatives will be reviewed by the Senate, who may choose to approve of legislation or send back recommended changes to the House of Representatives. Following this, the House of Representatives will pass their preferred version of the legislation, which will then become law.

**§3.1.** The Head of State may grant special dispensation to allow the Senate review process to be skipped.

**§3.2.** Both houses of Parliament may choose to agree on terms that would skip the Senate review process.

**§3.3.** Both houses of Parliament may choose to agree to additional restrictions within Parliament in order pass legislation into law.

**§4.** Legislation originating from the Senate, may subsequently be passed by the House of Representatives and become law.

**§4.1.** If the House of Representatives makes changes to such legislation, then the process described in Section 3 of this part of the article will begin.

**§5.** The Senate shall confirm or deny any judicial nominee presented by the Prime Minister.

**§6.** When the House of Representatives initiates an impeachment, the House of Representatives shall present a case for impeachment to the Senate. The person subject to an impeachment shall be given the opportunity to defend themselves in the Senate.

**§6.1.** After gaining an understanding of a case of impeachment, the Senate shall vote to convict or acquit the person being subjected to an impeachment.

**§6.1.1.** To convict, 2/3 of the Senate must vote in favor of conviction.

**§6.1.1.1.** A Senator may not vote in judgment of their own impeachment.

**§6.2.** The House of Representatives shall decide who presents their case to the Senate through their own rules and procedures.

**§6.3.** A conviction shall result in the person subject to impeachment being removed from all public offices they currently occupy.

**§7.** No Senator may concurrently be a member of the House of Representatives.

#### **When the House of Representatives Sits Alone**

**§1.** In times when the Senate is dissolved, the House of Representatives shall be responsible for the duties of the Senate.

**§1.1.** These duties shall include the confirmation or denial of judicial nominees and judging cases of impeachment.

**§1.1.1.** In cases where an impeachment is against a Member of Parliament, a conviction shall only be successful if it gains ¾ support in the House of Representatives.

**§1.1.2.** A Member of Parliament may not vote in judgment of their own impeachment.

**§2.** When the Senate is dissolved, legislation shall become law after being passed by the House of Representatives.

### **Article 2 — The Prime Minister**

**§1.** The Prime Minister shall be the head of government and the commander in chief of Voices of Democracy.

**§1.1** The government shall implement all laws and wield executive authority.

**§1.2.** All members of the government (also known as the executive branch) shall be commanded by the Prime Minister.

**§1.3.** The Prime Minister may appoint any citizen (including themselves) to any position within the executive branch.

**§1.4.** A member of the government may concurrently be a member of either house of Parliament but shall not concurrently be a Judge or Supreme Court Justice.

**§1.5.** Any member of the government may be dismissed by the Prime Minister.

**§2.** The Prime Minister and any relevant cabinet position shall have authority over Voices of Democracy’s foreign affairs and shall have the power to enter into treaties and agreements on behalf of the State of Voices of Democracy.

**§2.1.** Parliament may overrule any treaty.

**§2.2.** Parliament may ask the government to seek their advice and consent before entering into a treaty.

**§3.** Any powers that are not described in this Constitution, may be granted to the Prime Minister and other cabinet positions by Parliament.

**§3.1.** Any powers that are not described in this Constitution, may be removed from the Prime

Minister and other cabinet positions by Parliament.

**§4.** The Prime Minister or any other member of the government shall not concurrently be a Judge.

### **Article 3 — Prime Minister Selection**

**§1.** The Head of State shall appoint a citizen of Voices of Democracy to serve as Prime Minister.

**§1.1.** This selection must be the person the Head of State believes can obtain the confidence of the House of Representatives.

**§1.2.** If the Head of State feels there is no citizen that can obtain the confidence of the House of Representatives, they may specify that their selection is an Acting Prime Minister until an official selection is made.

**§2.** The public has a right to know which Members of Parliament are giving confidence to the Prime Minister.

**§3.** After an election the Prime Minister from the previous term, may remain in office as a caretaker until the Prime Minister for the current term is selected.

### **Article 4 — The Opposition**

**§1.** Parliament must always allow for dissenting views to be heard within Parliament

### **Article 5 — The Deputy Prime Minister**

**§1.** The Deputy Prime Minister is a member of the government.

**§2.** A Deputy Prime Minister may be selected by the Prime Minister.

**§3.** The Deputy Prime Minister shall answer to the Prime Minister.

### **Article 6 — Votes of No Confidence**

**§1.** The government may face votes of no confidence in the House of Representatives.

**§2.** If a vote of no confidence is successful, then the Prime Minister and the entire cabinet shall be removed from office.

**§2.1.** If the Prime Minister wishes for their government to remain in office, then they must instead call an election.

**§3.** A vote of no confidence shall only be successful if the outcome of the vote is that the government does not have the support of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives that casted a vote either in support or against the government.

### **Article 7 — The Head of State**

**§1.** The Head of State shall be the owner of all Voices of Democracy infrastructure. They may pass this position onto anyone they choose.

**§2.** The Head of State shall run all elections and referendums as they see fit.

**§2.1.** The Head of State may organize their own binding or non-binding referendums.

**§3.** The Head of State shall decide how all ties are broken.

**§4.** The Head of State may moderate individuals for reasonable suspicion of the following offenses:

* Breaking Discord TOS
* Violating US law
* Violating the law of where the user in question is located
* Violating established law of Voices of Democracy

**§5.** The Head of State may make any changes to Voices of Democracy if they deem it necessary and proper.

**§6.** The Head of State may dismiss the Prime Minister or anyone else that holds public office as they see fit.

**§7.** The Head of State shall fill vacancies in Parliament as they see fit.

**§8.** Constitutional amendments related to the role or status of the Head of State shall only be ratified with the consent of the incumbent Head of State.

**§9.** The Head of State may choose to create the Office of Head of State. This office and individual people within the office will be accountable to the Head of State and may act with as much of the Head of State's authority as the Head of State wants. The Head of State may appoint citizens to the Office of Head of State under the title the Head of State prefers.

**§9.1.** The Deputy Head of State, shall be the highest position within the Office of Head of State. They may be appointed at the discretion of the Head of State.

**§10.** The Head of State may fix any typos or formatting issues found in the Constitution or laws.

### **Article 8 — The Judiciary**

#### **Lower Courts**

**§1.** The Inferior Courts shall possess original jurisdiction of all criminal and civil cases.

**§2.** To complete its duties, the Judiciary must interpret and apply the laws and constitution of Voices of Democracy.

**§2.1.** Parliament may create sentencing guidelines through standard legislative process.

**§2.2.** In cases not covered by the guidelines, Judges shall use their best professional judgment.

**§2.3.** A legal entity shall be anything or anyone which has any rights defined in acts of Parliament or the Constitution.

**§3.** The first round of a case shall be heard by a single judge.

**§3.1.** Judges must be volunteer only; no one shall be compelled to preside over any case.

**§3.2.** Judges must recuse themselves in the event they may have, or may appear to have, a conflict of interest in the case.

**§3.3.** The presiding judge must provide the legal reasoning behind their judgment, in a public brief, including cited acts, laws, and precedents, as well as the verdict.

#### **Supreme Court of Voices of Democracy**

**§1.** There shall be a Supreme Court of Voices of Democracy, whose duty is to interpret the law, both constitutional and non-constitutional, as well as serve as an appellate court.

**§1.1.** Judicial reviews, which allow the Supreme Court to invalidate, reverse, and issue judicial remedies for any actions, commissions, orders, or laws which are incompatible with a higher authority or;

**§1.2.** Appeals of any decision made by lower courts, which allow the Supreme Court to force a retrial, overturn an inferior court decision, or amend an inferior court decision or;

**§1.3.** Reference cases, which allow the Supreme Court to issue a legally binding advisory opinion.

**§2.** The Supreme Court Chief Justice shall represent the judiciary, and decide whether to accept or decline cases.

**§3.** The Supreme Court shall have the power to determine its own procedures to meet its constitutional and legal duties.

**§3.1.** If any of the Supreme Court Justices has a conflict of interest with the appeal or review, including having presided over the original trial, they must recuse themselves.

**§3.2.** Recused Justices must be temporarily replaced by a random judge, for the duration of the case.

#### **Judicial Organization**

**§1.** Judges and Supreme Court Justices shall be appointed by the Prime Minister and confirmed by parliamentary procedure as described in article 1 of this constitution.

**§1.1.** Judges and Justices may be any citizen of Voices of Democracy except the members of either house of Parliament and members of the government.

**§1.2.** Supreme Court Justices shall be nominated by the Prime Minister and must be an acting judge.

**§2** The Supreme Court Justices shall choose a Supreme Court Chief of Justice among themselves.

**§3** There shall be no more than five justices on the Supreme Court.

#### **Judicial Powers**

**§1.** The courts shall have the power to issue subpoenas related to a case.

**§2.** The courts shall have the power to issue temporary injunctions on a matter while that same matter is being adjudicated in court.

**§3.** The courts shall have the power to create precedents as part of their rulings on a case.

**§3.1.** The most recent precedent from the will stand above other conflicting precedents.

**§3.1.1.** The Supreme Court may invalidate any previous precedent.

**§3.2.** Any precedent that relates directly to and relies on the language of the Constitution shall not be overturned by any method other than from within the judiciary or by amending the Constitution.

**§3.2.1.** Parliament may overturn precedents related to laws. This may be done

through the passage of new laws.

**§4.** The judiciary has the power to decide sentencing and judgements on their cases. However, there shall be no cruel or unusual punishment.

### **Article 9 — Rights of the People**

**§1.** There shall be no law or government policy that unfairly targets a person, persons, or a specific political party.

**§2.** Citizens have the right to organize and form political parties.

**§2.1.** For a party to be recognized, the party (through its own rules and procedures) must declare one of its members the Party Leader.

**§2.2.** For a party to be recognized, the Head of State may require a party to register its party name and party leader with the Head of State through any reasonable procedures that have been created by the Head of State.

**§2.3.** The Head of State shall oversee the recognition of political parties.

**§3.** No political party shall be formed that organizes around a hateful ideology.

**§3.1.** No party shall have a hateful name or imagery associated with their brand.

### **Article 10 — Constitutional Amendments**

**§1.** The Constitution may only be amended with a ¾ majority vote in all presently established houses of Parliament.

### **Article 11 — Appendix**

**§1.** All laws, policies, judicial opinions, and judicial rulings existing since September 4th, 2022 shall remain lawful unless they are subsequently overturned through lawful means.