Organization & Staffing

Organization & Staffing

Organization - Votes for Women

A tribunal can't simply be wished into existence.

It must be created and organized; it must be filled with people; it must have a place to operate; it must have resources, and it must have money.

So how do we actually assemble the proposed American Tribunal?

Overall Structure

Because this website uses the word "tribunal" and makes use of various legal terms (such as "standing"), many will think that this Tribunal ought to be structured like our Federal courts.

This writer believes that is not the right form of organization.

A typical "court" in the US presumes that there are two or more parties in opposition to one another and that through this clash of interests justice will arise.

However, in our Tribunal one of those sides is the unstructured and disorganized body of independent elements that we call "the People." In our present Federal courts, this interest is generally represented by a government agency, typically called a "Justice Department" under the control of an "Attorney General".

In our tribunal, that "Justice Department" and "Attorney General" will frequently be the defendant.

Thus this website advocates a form more akin to military or European courts, in which the court structure itself includes the body that advocates for the public and in which judges are not merely referees who, in the words of the Chief Justice of SCOTUS, merely "call balls and strikes".

Rather, this writer advocates a court (actually several courts) with the following elements:

  • An overall Board of Directors that acts as a collective body (by majority vote)
  • A Chief Executive who serves at the pleasure of the Board of Directors and who is responsible for running the lower structures.
  • Panels of judges organized into regional tribunal courts in which the judges are empowered to, and encouraged to, pose substantive questions to witnesses and other parties.
  • A court of appeals that not only handles appeals but also manages the regional tribunals
  • A source of funding that does not depend on the defendants or any political body, governmental or private.
  • A clerical administrative arm to keep track of things and that also deals with issues such as staffing, office space, supplies, and the like.
  • An enforcement arm that has the power to use coercive force to carry out directions from the panel of judges.
  • A research and investigatory arm with the power to ask the judges for warrants and subpoenas, and to make investigatory inquiries.
  • A prosecutorial arm that represents "the People" and that has the ability to itself investigate and ask for warrants and subpoenas, as well as to ask the investigatory arm to research various matters.
  • An arm to assist the defendants should they want it.
  • There will probably need to be at least one level of appeals. But no path of appeal that leads to the Supreme Court of the United States (because SCOTUS or some of its Justices are likely to be either an interested party or a defendant.)

Org Chart

graph TD subgraph A Tribunal Organization Chart BOD(Board of Directors) --> CEO(Chief Executive) CEO --> Admin[Administration] CEO --> Court_of_Appeals(Court of Appeals) --> ClerksA(Clerks) CEO --> Prosecution(Prosecution) CEO --> Investigation(Research and Investigations) CEO --> Enforcement(Enforcement) CEO --> DResources(Defendent Resources
and Assistance) Court_of_Appeals --> TCourt1(Regional Tribunal Court) --> Clerks1(Clerks) Court_of_Appeals --> TCourt2(Regional Tribunal Court) --> Clerks2(Clerks) Court_of_Appeals --> TCourt3(Regional Tribunal Court) --> Clerks3(Clerks) end classDef lev1 fill:cyan,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px; classDef lev2 fill:cyan,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px; classDef lev3 fill:lightpink,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px; classDef lev4 fill:lightgreen,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px; classDef lev5 fill:azure,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px; class BOD lev1 class CEO lev2 class Admin lev3 style Court_of_Appeals fill:limegreen,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px style ClerksA fill:azure,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px class Prosecution lev3 class Investigation lev3 class Enforcement lev3 class DResources lev3 class TCourt1 lev4 class TCourt2 lev4 class TCourt3 lev4 class Clerks1 lev5 class Clerks2 lev5 class Clerks3 lev5

Much of this structure can be created and funded, at least initially, privately.

However, the Research and Investigation arm and the Enforcement arm will require public legitimacy to operate. Simply declaring that legitimacy (and thus the power to act) is, in theory, possible under our theory of the source and authority for this Tribunal, however, in the eyes of the public, it would be far better to obtain the imprimatur of authority from Congress. This will be difficult.

Staffing

This tribunal will require expertise in several areas:

  • Economics
  • History
  • Ethics
  • Law (mostly existing US Federal and State law, but also historical knowledge and knowledge of other nations' legal systems.)
  • Science
  • Forensic accounting and money laundering

Location

Although the United States is well-knit by transportation and communication systems, this writer feels it would be best to geographically coalesce the Tribunal into one location. However, it may be useful or necessary to establish regional offices to facilitate investigation. Regional tribunal courts may also prove useful.

The choice for the central location seems to come down to three possible sites:

  • Central US (such as Minneapolis, St. Louis, or Denver.)
  • Washington DC
  • New York City

This writer prefers one of the Central US locations.

As for the regional offices, this writer's rule of thumb would be to place those where crimes were committed:

  • Silicon Valley, California
  • Texas
  • New York City
  • Washington DC
  • Palm Beach, Florida

Some foreign offices may also prove useful, particularly in London and somewhere in Asia.

Facilities

Secure office spaces and courtrooms will be necessary.

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