Carmine Delgado

OPINION OF THE ALORIAN SUPREME COURT SMART, etc. V. VINCENT, JUNE TERM, 2527

DELGADO, Chief Judge, delivered the Unanimous Opinion of the Court

"It is hereby ordered that magnetic key cards to the Executive Cabinet Building be issued to all members of the Alorian Cabinet. Until such order is complied with, by order of Finance Minister Sojourner Smart, the Alorian government will continue to pay rent on the Lambrecht Office Complex from which it may conduct its affairs as normal. If this order is not complied with in 60 days time, any member of the Cabinet is hereby authorized to force entry to the Executive Cabinet Building, to re-occupy it, and to resume the conduct of government business there. Capitol police and all other law enforcement are hereby enjoined from making any arrest of any Cabinet member of Cabinet member\'s staff so operating."

"The President has no authority to unilaterally shut down the Cabinet, and never has. Only the people can do so, through their elected representatives in the Parliament. If any *single* person holds unilateral authority to lock the Executive Cabinet Building, and to functionally disband the Parliament, it is the Prime Minister, since he is Aloria's head of government. However, because that question is not before us today, we do not hold that the Prime Minister has such authority. We hold only that the President does not."

"Under amendment 17 to the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Aloria--an amendment originally submitted to what was then called the Senate by the Moderate Libertarian Party itself--the positions of "Head of State" and "Head of Government" are separate and distinct. The Prime Minister is the Head of Government. The President is the Head of State. Each has his own sphere of power, and each sphere of power operates independently of the other's. The President's sole legal power is over foreign affairs. The Prime Minister's sole legal power is over domestic affairs."

"The Head of State is Aloria in the conduct of foreign affairs. By Alorian law, the Head of State commands Aloria\'s armed forces, and is Aloria\'s chief diplomat, superceding when he sees fit even the authority of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Defense, *except as provided by law.* Thus, while the President may permissibly enter into an executive agreement with a foreign head of state, even against the advice or acts of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and his entire Ministry, because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a branch of the *government,* and not of the state, only the Parliament may permissibly dissolve or defund the Foreign Ministry. The President may not unilaterally override an act of Parliament entering Aloria into a treaty. The President may not unilaterally override an act of Parliament prohibiting the use of biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons."

"None of this, of course, prohibits a President from exercising informal authority over domestic matters. The historic use of the Presidential "bully pulpit" is an accepted part of Alorian politics. Using his position of esteem, nothing prohibits the Alorian President from speaking to the public, or to the Parliament, to request, to motivate, or to move to action on affairs foreign or domestic. President Vincent himself has admirably so attempted this very term."

"Nonetheless, we must stress our concern at the turn taken in recent years by the Moderate Libertarian Party. As a Manfield appointee myself, and once proud member of the Moderate Libertarian Party, I express my personal concern with special conviction. The latter years of President Mansfield\'s Presidency, and now the first years of President Vincent's, have witnessed attempts at extraordinary usurpations of power from the Parliament. The President is not a dictator. Aloria's Constitution does not provide for a dictator. Aloria is now, and has always been, a Parliamentary Democratic Republic, in which power is dispersed through a President, a Parliament, and a Cabinet. Mansfield's and Vincent's usurpations are inconsistent with these Constitutional principles."

[the opinion continues, outlining the duties and powers of each officer and branch of government and state]