(preface)
First of all, thank you so much to the people of Augusta and those who believed in me. I am so proud to be serving as your mayor. I plan to introduce a lot of legislation over these two weeks, and hopefully it leads to changes you all want and enjoy.
(/preface)

(explanation)
I would like to being with our justice system. It serves a great role in our community, but I believe it needs reworking to make it run efficiently. This will will do the following:

1. Eliminate the jury
2. Specify how trials are decided
3. Specify the mayor's role in trials

I've served on Mount Augusta juries, and while I do enjoy them, they can be very difficult and severely impede the process of deciding guilt or innocence. The current system of just shouting "Who wants to be on a jury?" could yield an unfair jury this is biased, and forces them to decide through often convoluted means.

It makes much more sense to have four specified individuals, the judges, who make themselves familiar with Augustan law and can act as arbiters of justice in town. When a case is brought, the judge will review the evidence and render a verdict.

Now comes the area of judicial review. If we have judges assigning verdicts, we need them to be fair and apply the law in a balanced fashion. As such, if a defendant who is convicted feels the judge misappropriated or misinterpreted the law in their case, they can appeal to the highest arbitrator in the city, the mayor.

I don't want this to be seen as a power grab by me to assert more power as the executive. In actuality, the mayor already has this power, though it is very loosely defined under Article V, Section A, Subsection ii:

The Mayor will function as the highest ranking arbiter; though any parties in conflict can name any third party as their arbiter, any and all appeals go to the Mayor.

My bill will simply clarify this position. I hope this explanation helps you to understand the legalese below.
(/explanation)

(legalese)
Amend Article V, Section A, Subsection ii to read:

The Mayor will function as the highest ranking arbiter; though any parties in conflict can name any third party as their arbiter, any and all appeals go to the Mayor. If a plaintiff or defendant in a case in the Augustan court feels the law has been misinterpreted by their judge, they may appeal the case to the Mayor, who will issue a final and binding decision.

Eliminate Article III, Section C, Subsections a, b, e(subsection 1, 10, and 11) and f(subsection 5), and renumber/order as needed

Add to Article III, Section C, Subsection c, subsection 9, which reads:

The judge of the case will decide guilt or innocence on the charges, as well as the amount of time to be served, as per the Mount Augusta Criminal Code.

Add to Article III, Section C, Subsection d, subsection 5, which reads:

After three days, the judge of the case will decide guilt or innocence on the charges, as well as the amount of time to be served, as per the Mount Augusta Criminal Code, posting the results on the subreddit thread.

Changes all instances of "the jury" in the Mount Augusta Criminal Code to "the judge"

(/legalese)

This has passed with a vote of:

20 for
4 against
2 abstentions