The Student Government Senate overturned SG President Stuart Watkins’ veto on a bill which passed Senate two weeks ago and gave Dean of Students KC White the authority to cast the deciding vote in the event of a tie in University Court. Watkins said he vetoed the bill because he didn’t think SG “should give that kind of power to an administrator.””I don’t feel it’s appropriate,” Watkins said. “Students should be able to take care of business within the body of Student Government.”Basic Sciences Sen. Ben Clark authored the bill and said it anticipated the election conflicts happening this week.”Whatever side loses in the Trial Court case should be able to appeal their decision,” Clark said.College of Business Sen. Emily Landry said there wouldn’t be another person to decide tie-breaks besides the Dean of Students.”The Dean of Students is the next level of appeal,” Landry said. “There is no person in the student body that would be unbiased.”Watkins said he doesn’t have an alternate solution of who should decide tie-breaks.”But I will say it’s a loss for the students when we give away power that we have in SG,” Watkins said.Since the SG Senate overruled Watkins’ veto by the necessary two-thirds vote, the bill goes into effect immediately.The SG Senate also debated a concurrent resolution by Clark, which “requests the recusal of all members of the Judicial Branch who have made any public endorsement or who have offered counsel to any ticket, candidates or campaign in any subsequent appeal cases.”Watkins also vetoed the concurrent resolution, but the SG Senate didn’t override his veto   because the session was adjourned until 6:20 p.m. today.  Watkins said he vetoed this because he felt like it was too far out of the line to impeach Judicial Branch members.”Slow down. Think about it just a little bit,” Watkins said.Clark said a lot is riding on the Trial Court and University Court, and he wants SG to make sure the judicial process is fair and equitable.College of Basic Sciences Sen. Jared Bourgeois said he thinks any justices who have supported a candidate will publicly recuse themselves anyway.”This is a threat,” Bourgeois said. “I think it’s unnecessary and slightly rude.”—-Contact Catherine Threlkeld at [email protected].