CONSTITUTION
OF THE
BOALT HALL FEDERALIST SOCIETY

The Boalt Hall Federalist Society (“BHFS” or “the Society”) is a student organization organized in accordance with the regulations of the University of California, Berkeley, and Boalt Hall. The BHFS honors, respects, and supports the Constitution of the United States of America.

The purpose of the BHFS is to foster critical thought and debate about the application of conservative and libertarian principles to the law. The BHFS embraces the principle that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to the integrity of the Constitution of the United States of America, and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is – not what it should be. The BHFS seeks both to promote an awareness of these principles and to further their application through its activities. This entails reordering priorities within the legal system so as to place a premium on the traditional values of individual liberty and the rule of law.

Membership in BHFS is open to any student at Boalt Hall as well as any interested faculty or administration member. “Active members” are those that are current on their dues.

The Faculty Advisor of the BHFS will be a faculty member of Boalt Hall. In the absence or unavailability of a suitable Faculty Advisor, the Society may turn to one of its members, or to a suitable member of the legal profession outside Boalt Hall.

The BHFS shall have the following officers: President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer.

The BHFS Officers shall have duties described below and any other duties that the President shall from time to time decide is expedient for the Society.

1. President - The President shall be the chief executive of the BHFS. He or she shall call and preside over all BHFS meetings and Executive Board meetings. He or she shall supervise all club activities. He or she shall have veto power concerning Society expenditures which can be overturned by two thirds of all active Society members. He or she shall serve as a liaison to any such other organizations as the Executive Board deems necessary. He or she shall have the power to appoint any such assistants as he or she deems necessary to assist in fulfilling the duties of office.
2. Vice President - The Vice President shall assist the President and shall preside in case of his absence or disability. He or she shall rule on all matters of parliamentary procedure. He or she shall reserve rooms for BHFS meetings. He or she shall maintain all official records of the Society, including a mailing list of all members and any historical records. He or she shall supervise the committees through their respective Chairmen.
3. Secretary - The Secretary shall take minutes of all Society meetings, maintain all Society correspondence, and notify BHFS members of upcoming meetings. The Secretary shall notify, the members of upcoming meetings in any manner the Executive Board may deem appropriate, including posting notice of such on the bulletin board, and using posters, notices, or other communications.
4. Treasurer - The Treasurer shall be responsible for the finances of the BHFS and shall present and supervise the budget. He or she shall be responsible for any fund raising activities and for the collection of Society dues.

In the event that any officer is unable to fulfill his term for any reason, an election for that office shall be held during the next regularly scheduled BHFS meeting following, the vacancy. During the vacancy, the office may be filled on an interim basis by the Executive Board.

The members of the Executive Board shall be the four elected officers, the chairpersons of the committees, and any other person the President may appoint. The Executive Board shall administer all routine business of the Society. A majority vote of the active Society members is sufficient to overturn a decision of the Executive Board.

Committees shall be organized to administer various phases of the BHFS. The Executive Board shall, as the need arises, establish committees consisting of Society members at large. The President shall appoint Committee Chairpersons, to take effect upon approval of the Executive Board. The Treasurer shall chair any committee formed concerning the finances of the BHFS.

All committee chairpersons shall be immediately responsible to the Vice-President who shall coordinate these committees and shall assign to the committees any responsibilities delegated by the Executive Board.

The Annual Meeting shall be held in April of each year, The Treasurer shall report the status of the budget at that time. Officers for the next year shall be elected at this meeting. The newly elected officers shall assume their responsibilities on June 1.

The procedure of all elections of the BHFS shall be as follows:

1. Two weeks before the election, the Secretary shall post notices announcing the upcoming election and application deadline on appropriate bulletin boards around Boalt Hall. Any active member interested in elective office must notify the current President by the stated deadline. Any active member may run for the offices of Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer, with the office of President reserved for 3Ls only. If no 2L seeks the office of President (to be inaugurated at the end of the second year), any other active member may run for that office.
   
2. The President shall prepare ballots with candidates’ names, organized by the office they seek. Nomination from the floor shall be only for candidates on the ballot.
3. Each candidate on the ballot for President shall have four minutes to make a campaign speech. All other candidates on the ballot will have two minutes to make a campaign speech. The President shall time each speech.
4. Each person desiring a ballot must first be verified by the Treasurer as an active member, whose dues are current, before receiving a ballot. No proxies shall be allowed, and any member arriving after the commencement of campaign speeches may not vote. All voting is by secret ballot.
5. All voting for the office of President shall take place before speeches and voting for the office of Vice President, and so on. The President shall excuse the candidate before each vote to allow the members to discuss the candidate’s merits.
6. The president and two active members, selected by those attending the meeting, shall tabulate the ballots. No write-in candidate shall be allowed. For any office for which there are two or fewer candidates, the race is decided by a plurality. If there are more than two candidates for an office, a simple majority must be achieved. Absent a majority, a run-off election shall be conducted between the top two vote recipients. In the event of a tie, the President shall cast the deciding vote.
7. No candidate for office shall preside over an election meeting. If, as allowed by Article V, Section II.A., the President seeks Executive Board office, the Vice President, the Secretary, the Treasurer, or any other active member eligible under this subsection, in such order, shall be appointed by the President to serve as president pro tempore to preside over the election meeting.

Any active member of the BHFS may propose amendments or by-laws to this Constitution. Amendments shall take effect upon ratification by two-thirds of the active members. By-laws shall take effect upon approval of a majority of the active members.

The rules contained in the most recent edition of Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised shall govern the BHFS in all cases to the extent that such do not conflict with any express provisions, policies, or procedures of this Constitution.

This Constitution shall take effect immediately upon ratification by two-thirds of active members present at a meeting called for this purpose. Each active member of the BHFS may receive a copy of the Constitution as well as any amendment or by-laws subsequently adopted in accordance with Article VIII.