Electronic systems engineering technology senior Sawyer Bagley has filed a case in the Judicial Court of Texas A&M alleging that the Student Senate, alongside its speaker and speaker pro-tempore, is in “egregious violation of the SGA Code & its/their duties” and has asked the Court to declare unconstitutional any action the body took that violated proper procedure during its 77th Session, which began in April 2024 and ends today, March 19.
Bagley is a current associate justice on the eight-person Judicial Court and its former chief justice. In a statement to the current chief justice that he shared with The Battalion, Bagley said he is recusing himself from his position and, from this point on, the only communication to occur between him and any member of the Court or Student Government Association will be as the petitioner, not as a justice.
“Compound this with no access to any legislation, using either personal emails or TAMU emails, it is evident the Student Senate & its leaders are either grossly incompetent in their duties or intentionally obscuring details and happenings,” the petition reads. “The evidence is sufficient to deem the actions & decisions of the 77th session to be corrupt, either deliberately by its leaders, its whole, or due to the ignorance of all involved.”
The seven-page document names petroleum engineering senior Ava Blackburn, communication junior Eli Purtell and industrial distribution senior Corbitt Armstrong as the defendants representing the Senate. The trio serve as speaker, speaker pro-tempore and rules & regulations chair, respectively, and all three senators denied a request for comment, citing an injunction placed on the case.
Throughout the petition, Bagley notes a series of facts he claims constitutes unconstitutional behavior, including legislation on the Senate’s website being inaccessible to students, meeting recordings no longer being posted — with the most recent recording posted 46 weeks ago at the time of the petition’s filing — and attendance not being recorded properly.
As of publication, the Senate’s attendance records for the 77th Session haven’t been updated by Hurtell since Oct. 18, 2024, according to the public spreadsheet. Bagley further notes that 49 students on the sheet were listed to have more total absences than the combined number of excused and unexcused absences, “showing a clear lack of accountability & proper execution of duty.”
“Furthermore, of these 49 senators, ten have 11 or more total absences & six more Senators who have 6 or more unexcused absences but less than 11 total,” the petition reads. “Meaning, 16 Senators should have been removed from the position according to the faulty attendance records.”
He also said the Constitution and Student Government Association Code, last updated in January 2024 and December 2024, respectively, are outdated, with the latter notably missing the signature of the rules and regulations chair, Armstrong.
“Combining this with the issue of no student being able to access live recordings, legislation, and even more egregious, the Senate website, under governing documents, denies access to the SGA Code,” the petition reads. “Note that the 76th session documents can be accessed and are also outdated.”
Of several additional issues, Bagley also claims the legislative body enacted changes it did not have the jurisdiction to do, particularly when it gave the chair of the Senate’s Finance Committee and the student body vice president guaranteed seats on the Student Affairs Fee Advisory Board.
The group, according to its website, advises university administrators on how to spend student fees and is composed of students interviewed and chosen by the student body president, speaker of the senate, the president of the graduate and professional student government and the Board’s chair.
“Another issue is the Senate passed the Student Fee Review Bill in which they ask the Student Body President to create an ad hoc committee & to also appoint the Finance Chair as a member of this committee,” the petition reads. “This is unconstitutional in two ways: only the Senate can create committees, and the only members of an executive branch committee can be a member of the executive branch.”
Bagley concludes by asking the Judicial Court to reprimand senators “found to be in violation of their oath-sworn duties” and put an injunction on the Student Senate’s activities until “all valid offenses be remedied.” If no remedy is found, then he asks the justices to declare all legislation the Senate passed unconstitutional if the process in which it passed isn’t transparent.
“I further ask the Court, should their offenses be great enough, stipulate which Senators now have grounds to be impeached,” Bagley’s petition reads. “While the respondents may argue this to be extreme, I remind the Court that the SGA is to be held to the highest standard when it comes to literacy of the Code, and should any member be found to be in a substantial and/or outstanding violation of the Student Government Association’s Code, this is grounds for impeachment and removal of their office.”
According to the Judicial Court’s bylaws, impeachment requires that the petitioner prove a substantial or gross violation of the Constitution or one’s role or oath.
“Furthermore, should any senator be found to have substantially neglected their oaths and/or duties, I plead the Court to remove them from their office, as allowed by the SGA Constitution,” the petition reads.
The Court has named the case Bagley v. Student Senate and hasn’t set any further dates. The chief justice did not respond to a request for comment.
