I doubt that the proverbial "they" ever said that an impeachment trial is a bad way to start a semester, but maybe they should have. As you may or may not recall, just as finals week approached at the close of last semester, the Union Senate impeached Union Secretary Diana Aronin for failure to present a proposed amendment to the Student Union Constitution to the student body for a vote. This week, the Union Judiciary will serve as the final arbiter of the impeachment when it formally hears the case.

The justices of the UJ must be gleaming with delight after last semester's caseless docket. But they shouldn't be too joyful all at once because at last it appears that the Senate has located and even read the Union Constitution. And if our senators have finally noticed (after more than 6 months) that the secretary erred with regard to one of her constitutional roles, then this is only a taste of what is to come if they unearth and read the Union bylaws as well. Should that happen, the justices might find themselves quite the busy bees with a large quantity of impeachment cases over the next few months-so they should consider holding onto their judicial jollity for the time being.

Let's say that our senators do end up reading the bylaws, which clarify exactly how Union senators and executive officers are supposed to carry out their constitutional duties (thus making its violators ripe for impeachment).

They'll consider that perhaps some executive officers failed to "report before the Senate at least once every two Senate meetings," as required by the bylaws. And if our senators are bold enough to consult the Senate minutes, they'll realize that fully half of the executive officers failed to fulfill that duty. So impeach them they must.

But it'd be negligent on behalf of the Senate to leave half of the executive officers standing, free of impeachment. So they'll refer to Article II, Section 2 of the bylaws, which mandates that executive officers post online project reports "prior to every meeting of the Senate." A quick check of the Student Union Web site would wrap up impeachments for the remainder of the officers, some of whom never posted a single report.

For a moment, the senators might think that their impeachment work was done, with all the executive officers gone and everything. But then one senator will realize that they skipped over part of Article II, Section 2. In fact, senators also must post the project reports online before every Senate meeting. Back to the Union Web site! Oh, but it turns out that not a single senator succeeded in posting a report before every meeting-though some came very, very close, missing only one or two reports. So, one by one, the senators will impeach each other until there are only two senators left and the Senate is unable to achieve the needed two-thirds majority without resorting to dismemberment.

Now you might be thinking, "Wait, these are just minor procedural errors due to overly demanding bylaws that exist to achieve a feigned sense of transparency. Don't impeach the Union folk for breaching them!" Well, yes, they are minor. But just as the secretary's misstep regarded procedure, so do those of these other Union officials. And procedure is procedure, whether in the Constitution or in the bylaws.

The grounds for the secretary's impeachment appear to be far from frivolous; if the Senate's claims are true, she did violate the Constitution, and the Judiciary will have little choice to rule otherwise.

Yet by being particular about procedure that it could have-but didn't-checked up on and enforced, the Senate has invoked a policy of rather low tolerance for constitutional mishaps. I wish our senators the best of luck in justifying to themselves and to the student body the absence of other impeachments-including their own.