Tension amid chief justice selection

June 29, 2009 by Pashtana Usufzy 

CSUN judicial position creates slippery slope for nominees

A battle over a position at the head of CSUN’s judicial branch has led to the promotion of a controversial pick and the resignation of the associate chief justice.

Nestor Pineda, a sophomore and former associate justice, was officially appointed as chief justice by the Senate. Ten senators voted in favor of the nomination, four were against it and five abstained.

The approval process during the June 15 senate meeting was a loud one, with several senators voicing their displeasure at the manner in which Student Body President Adam Cronis and his cabinet nominated Pineda.

The newly-elected chief justice ran against two of his colleagues, including Rachel Ware and now-former associate chief justice, Brittany Catlin.

“I wasn’t planning on [running] initially,” Pineda said. “I automatically thought that [the] associate chief justice would just bump up.”

Catlin did run for the position, but she was rejected. According to Senate President Victor Barragan, Catlin resigned her post as a member of the judicial council immediately after hearing the news.

However, Catlin then spoke with Cronis, who offered her the position in spite of having already chosen Pineda. The action, Cronis said, was his attempt to diffuse the situation.

Cronis withrew the offer about four hours later.

“It was a premature decision on my part,” Cronis said. “It was a decision designed to try to quell the issue.”

Cronis later apologized to Catlin, expressing to the Senate that he hoped his mistake would not affect judgments of Pineda’s judicial qualifications.

“I hope you give [Pineda] a fair shake,” Cronis told the Senate. “I know you will, despite this controversy. I know he’s very qualified for this position.”

The spectacle surrounding the issue only became larger as Catlin and Pineda stood side by side during the Senate meeting and gave differing answers to questions regarding workload and efficiency.

“Nothing much went on,” Pineda told senators regarding the number of cases brought to the justices.

Catlin disagreed.

“We both had the same experience,” she said. “I was in the office more. There was stuff to do. He just kind of didn’t step up when there was stuff to do.”

Senators questioned what they saw as roadblocks on the way to confirming Pineda, such as the flawed nomination process and the lack of an paper application for the chief justice position.

“Instead of judging [the candidate] on character, I’m judging on what happened in regards to him being appointed, which is not fair to him,” said Paige Hanson, senator for the college of education.

University Studies Senator Jon Goldman also said that he felt he needed additional information on the candidate himself.

“I’m just questioning the whole fact that obviously there was some kind of application to be a justice in the first place, and [senators] don’t even have [a copy] of that,” he said.

Others viewed an apparent lack of support from the judicial branch for Pineda as noteworthy.

“I know that we had one member of the council come and speak up upon the action which was taken, and [the person] spoke in support of someone else,” said Jason Ontiveros, senator of the College of Urban Affairs, regarding one council member’s public backing of Catlin.

Cronis confirmed that at least one justice e-mailed him and applauded the decision to promote Pineta, who Cronis believes will make the best, most communicative leader for the judicial branch.

“I think he’s proven himself,” Cronis said. “He’s been an involved student for the last two years that he’s been enrolled in the school. Continuously wanting to become a part of CSUN, he was very thrilled when he became a justice and I know that he’s not going to let any of us down.”

Pineda, secretary for the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, said he believes he knows enough to be a great chief justice who brings attention to one of the lesser-known branches of CSUN government.

“There’s the whole judicial side that’s totally in the dark,” he said, “and I want to shine a light on it.”