The ASUC Judicial Council may soon test the limits of its authority after accepting a case that contests the validity of the recall election of Senator John Moghtader.

The suit, filed by Attorney General Michael Sinanian, claims proponents of the recall intentionally falsified statements in The Daily Californian, online and in the ASUC voter's guide regarding Moghtader's involvement in a Nov. 13 Eshleman Hall altercation. Sinanian claims a video documenting the altercation exonerates the senator.

If the suit is upheld, the recall attempt-which is being treated by the council as a proposition-will be disqualified and Moghtader will retain his senate seat. He will otherwise be removed, after 72 percent of voters supported his recall in the election.

"In light of the recently revealed evidence, the degree of injustice committed upon Senator Moghtader and the ASUC is disturbingly grave," Sinanian says in the charge sheet. "It is in the hands of the Judicial Council to restore justice (and his Senate seat) to him."

But the ASUC Constitution does not make it clear that the council has the authority to invalidate the $20,000 recall.

"The (Attorney General) doesn't make a very convincing legal argument," said former attorney general Alex Kozak. "He never states how he intends to prove that the primary proponents of the recall intentionally falsified information … and even if they did, the amount of censures that the Judicial Council can give for a single violation is limited to two or three."

Sinanian is charging that the proponents' statements violate the elections bylaw that deals with "serious ethical breaches." Such a violation would typically result in up to three censures, whereas five are needed to disqualify a candidate or proposition.

He has asked the council to invalidate the election despite the censure requirement, quoting the bylaw that states the council "shall have equitable power to assure that the punishment levied fits the violation found to occur so as to assure a fair and just result."

Moghtader has shown the video cited in the suit to Sinanian and The Daily Californian. He said he will show it to the council for the hearing, but will not release it publicly on his lawyer's advice.

The video shows an individual identified as Moghtader standing in the corner of a balcony while a fight breaks out between former Senator Gabe Weiner and Husam Zakharia, contradicting statements made by student Dina Omar and others to police and later statements printed in The Daily Californian and the voter's guide.

"I am one of the three Palestinian students assaulted by John Moghtader," Omar said in the voter's guide. "(The recall) is based on Moghtader's alleged involvement in a hate crime."

Omar declined to comment on her statements or the case, while the other defendant in the case, Nathan Shaffer, said he could not comment without having seen the new video evidence.

Even with the equitable power clause, the council may not be able to override the censure limit, said Robert Gregg, who served as chair of the Judicial Council in 2005-06.

"If there's not enough censures to add up to five … then there's nothing they can do about it," he said. "They can't make up rules out of nowhere."

However, Gregg added that the council could rule the election invalid from the start, given the lack of constitutional guidelines for recall elections.

"In the absence of law, they might have to make interpretations that might seem extraordinary," he said. "But if the senate has failed to do its job in outlining the letter of the law, it's in the council's responsibility to make interpretations."

Tags: RECALL ELECTION, SENATOR JOHN MOGHTADER