Restoration of Civility and Civilization Act
Overview
The Restoration of Civility and Civilization Act was a desperate attempt in Cyberia led by the Cyberian Renaissance Action Party to save the flame-war ravaged nation by banning Alan Grieve and granting Universal Amnesty to everyone else via a constitutional amendment. Allegedly, the Supreme Court of Cyberia took it off the ballot. (Some think this was through the action of a papel.) Though initial reaction to the act was favorable, some supporters gradually turned into opponents.
The text
The Restoration of Civilty and Civilization Act.
In order to preserve even the semblence of Democracy in Cyberia, and to promote the growth of the Commonwealth.
1- Alan Greive is hereby expelled from Cyberia as a danger to the peace of the Nation.
2- With the exception of the above said Alan Grieve, a general amnesty is declared. All arrests, convictions, trials and criminal and civil disabilities are hereby dismissed and erased.
3- Any and all provisions of the Constution of the Virtual Commonwealth of Cyberia or laws of the same contrary to #1 and #2 above are hereby waived for the purpose of #1 and #2 above only and exclusively.
The political battle
The act was an initiative to enact a constitutional amendment. Austi Scot, as Electoral Commissioner, certified it on February 24, 2002. Its long title was, "Shall Alan Grieve be expelled from Cyberia and a general amnesty declared for all current and previous arrests, trials and convictions in Cyberia?"
Scot resigned as Electoral Commissioner on March 16, 2002. No longer bound to impartiality, he signed the petition and went to work garnering additional signatures.
The act had the initial support of several Cyberians including Peter Hickey and the Progressive-Futurist Party. As support for the act grew, Jack Santucci of the Social Democratic Party set aside personal disagreements with Alan Grieve to oppose the effort. He, the Radical Party under Grieve and the Socialist Party under David Catchpole immediately organized the United Leftist Front to build political opposition.
On May 4, 2002, Peter Hickey, in a statement (p083.ezboard.com/fcyberia...=87.topic) to the court, claimed to be a defendant in the case, stated he would not oppose the plaintiff's request for relief and moved that the court grant his first and second claims, below.
The court case
On March 27, 2002, Plaintiff Alan Grieve filed suit against Acting Electoral Commissioner David Wesker, asking the court for an injunction to stop the referendum. Grieve had two main contentions: (1) that Scot violated provisions on the electoral commission's impartiality by certifying a referendum he intended to politically support and (2) that the Act would have suspended several sections of the Bill of Rights.
To bolster his first claim, Grieve cited two examples of Scot's bias while serving as Electoral Commissioner: (1) a statement that Grieve was a "dirty potty mouth" and (2) the following unofficial e-mail to all citizens, dated March 14, 2002:
"Dear Citizens of Cyberia:
I am writing this letter to you in an effort to encourage you concerning Cyberia.
It is my belief that Cyberia is on the verge of either getting substantially better or substantially worse.
I believe it can only be better if all of us will continue to stand in there and work for Cyberia at this critical point in time. The point in time I am speaking about is the next two months.
I wish to ask those of you who did not vote in the recent election to send your reason to the Electoral Commissioner before March 27 and retain your citizenship.
As of this moment I am the EC please send your reasons for not voting to me at austi_scot@(omitted for privacy). If for some reason I am not EC before your time runs out I will be glad to send you the e-mail of the then Electoral Commissioner.
I then ask you to suffer through the Special Election and regular election one right on the heels of the other in early April. I would prefer you vote in both according to who you want to be in office but please at least stay in Cyberia during this time frame.
Please don't make a decision to leave Cyberia at this stage things will get substantially better if we all stay now work out a way to make things better we are right on the verge."
Austi Scot
Five days later, on April 2, Geoff Spaulding in his capacity as Chief Justice of the province of Menet entered the court claiming to represent "the only functioning court in Cyberia," dismissed the case "with prejudice" and held that the right of initiative took precedence over the Bill of Rights.
On April 3, Chief Justice Singleton issued the following injunction:
"THAT THE ELECTORAL COMMISSIONER AND THE COMMONWEALTH BE RESTRAINED FROM PROCEDING FURTHER WITH THE INITIATIVE DESCRIBED IN THE CLAIM, UNTIL FURTHER ORDER OF THIS COURT."
Singleton further held the following:
(1) that Spaulding, in his capacity as Menet Chief Justice, had usurped the authority of the federal court;
(2) that the constitutionality of the act would be justiciable at a later date;
(3) that the initiative process may itself be subject to constitutional challenge at a later date;
(4) and that Electoral Commissioner Wesker was an improperly named defendant, the Commonwealth and Electoral Commission generally having been proper.
The Aftermath
- Proponents of the amendment did not take the decision well, to the point that many claimed that the "Justice Singleton" who ruled on the case was actually a papel of Alan Grieve. The situtation was strange, as the CJ had not posted in Cyberia for many months, and disappeared soon thereafter. Many members of CRAP including Austi Scot resigned from Cyberia soon after. As the more conservative members of the VCC left the nation, the SDP, emboldened by it's judicial coup, began to exert a previously unheard of influence on the affairs of the nation. The judicial deus ex machina left many remaining Cyberians completely disillusioned, and destroyed their faith in Cyberia's democratic institutions. These stresses lead in part to the Third War for Cyberian Liberation, and the subsequent founding of the Restored Commonwealth of Cyberia.
