Student Government Association President Darren Beckham is on a mission to appoint students to the Supreme Court of Wichita State.

If Beckham succeeds, it will be the first time in three years that the court has been full, said Olivia Sullivan, former SGA Vice President.

Within SGA, the Supreme Court can hear appeals from the Election Commission, which oversees the elections, and the Senate Review Board, SGA’s disciplinary body.

Beckham was involved in some of the sanctions that occurred in the last election. However, with the absence of a Supreme Court, Beckham and any other sanctioned members had no place to appeal the decisions made by the election commission.

Beckham said that the Supreme Court is the only body allowed to remove election commissioners, including the Chief Election Commissioner.

Even though the SGA president is responsible for appointing students, the court is not exclusive to SGA. It consists of four student members, as well as three faculty members, who are appointed by University President John Bardo.

Outside of SGA, the Supreme Court can rule on appeals from the traffic appeals court and the library appeals court. In this regard, the Supreme Court serves the whole University as the final authority on appeals.

“If [the Supreme Court passes] it or if they approve it, it’s happening,” Beckham said.

Another role of the Supreme Court is to offer their opinions on a variety of issues to the SGA president and student advocate.

Beckham said that these issues could include “an interpretation of the journal or some ambiguity that the journal doesn’t cover.”

“I don’t want to be the only one talking,” Beckham said. “I want the court to tell me if they agree or not.”

Even though the charge of the Supreme Court is found in the SGA Constitution, it has not been filled since former SGA President Matthew Onstott’s presidency three years ago.

Sullivan believes that this is because the Supreme Court never served a “significant role in SGA.”

“I feel like the last couple of presidents haven’t seen the importance of filling [the Supreme Court],” Sullivan said. “A lot of the Senate is unaware of what the court even does, so I don’t think they see a significant problem.”

Sullivan added that the court can be hard to “get in touch with” for SGA presidents, because they are set apart from SGA and are appointed by previous presidents.

“It’s harder to get these people together because they aren’t necessarily a part of SGA,” Sullivan said.

Although there were no sanctions brought against the former president, who failed to appoint members, Beckham said that he sees the absence of a Supreme Court as a “disservice” and that “they could’ve been brought up on some kind of nonfeasance charge, probably.”

However, Beckham said he just wants to move forward.

“Nothing can be done now,” Beckham said. “We’re just here to reverse it and get [the Supreme Court] back up and running.”

Beckham is looking for students interested in becoming members of the Supreme Court.

“It’s a good opportunity for anyone interested in law,” Beckham said. “They don’t meet often, but they meet about the touchiest things, so it has high responsibility.”

Students applying must be enrolled at the University and have a cumulative grade point average of 2.0. While in the Supreme Court, students may not run in SGA elections or be appointed to any other positions.

The current deadline for application is Tuesday.