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The function of the tribunes is to protect individual rights, to eliminate corruption, to ensure that proper procedure is followed, to eliminate unnecessary secrecy, and to temper "procedural bugs" by the application of individual judgement.
The existence of tribunes does not excuse parts of the organization from the responsibility to have internal controls.
There is always at least one tribune position.
A second tribune position is added when the threshold for the creation of the External Elect Commission is met.
A third tribune position is added when the size of the External Elect Commission reaches 5.
Each tribune has the power to request any information from any part of the organization, or from high officials. Such a request for information must be met immediately (or, if fulfilling the request takes time, as soon as physically possible) and cannot be denied for any reason. In particular, no information may be kept secret from a tribune.
When a Tribune compels information, the information must be supplied along with a signed oath that it is the truth.
Each tribune has the power to take another tribune to court on the charge of making a request for information which imposes an excessive burden. A request is defined to impose an excessive burden if the burden of collecting and providing the information is (a) large, forcing the organization to significantly curtail important activities in order to divert its labor to fulfilling the request, and also (b) unreasonable, and also (c) in excess of the amount of information needed to reasonably ensure the non-corruption and procedure-following of government, or to make a case in court. In no case shall adverse effects thought to be caused by the release of information be taken as evidence for the excessiveness of a request.
Any official who does not comply with a tribune's request for information shall be permanently stripped of their position, possibly in addition to other sanctions as specified by statue.
Note that, because of (c), by saying something is excessive, the court is stating that the additional information gained will be irrelevant to the tribune's success in court, if they were going to use this information to go to court.
If the court finds that the request for information was excessive, the only penalty shall be the nullification of that request and of future similar requests by the same tribune, if ordered by the court. In particular, the right to publish any information obtained is not affected.
In addition, each tribune may request some information from or about entities which have close relations with the organization or its officials, in proportion to the closeness and, in the case of entities which are close to officials, to the power of the officials. This type of request may be challenged in court before being complied with.
In addition, each tribune may request any information from or about any private entity if there is probable cause to believe that the information is related to an action or conspiracy by the organization or by officials of the organization relating to an attempt to deprive individuals of their rights, or to not follow procedure, or which may be corrupt. A court must find probable cause before this type of request may be issued. This type of request may be challenged in court before being complied with.
Each tribune has the power to publish any information, even information which was previously declared secret or private, and information which by law may not be published. No tribune shall be hindered from or punished for the publication of any information. Tribunes are never obligated to pre-notify any entity before publication.
The information must be published in any manner which makes it available to the general public, not just to a few select individuals. Each tribune must make available a list of information which they have published, and where to find each publication. Published information must be kept available for at least one year, at the expense of the Organization. Before they have decided which information to publish, tribunes may reveal any information to their staff. Before publication, they may reveal any information to select individuals and entities if useful to arrange for publication.
Rather than publish information to the public, tribunes may publish it to the representative houses of the legislature (the elect commission and the delegate commission), and must be provided with a venue for doing so.
Each tribune has the power and the standing to bring any case against any entity alleging corruption, failure to follow procedure, dereliction of duty of an official, or infringement of individual rights, provided these crimes are with reference to the organization.
An entity may be corrupt in their participation in some other organization, or involved in causing another organization to infringe or not to follow proper procedure, without being vulnerable to tribunal prosecution.
Any two tribunes, acting together, may pardon or commute the sentence of any individual other than themselves for a crime or crimes.
When there are multiple tribune positions, some of them have special duties and powers, described in the following. These are in addition to their ordinary powers, described above. When is only one tribune, he or she holds all of these powers. When there are only two tribunes, the senior one holds the powers described below for the senior tribune, and the junior one holds the powers described below for the middle tribune.
The middle tribune is the ombudsperson. The ombudsperson may accept complaints from individuals and entities and attempt to mediate between the complaintant and the organization. When there are three tribunes, the juniormost and seniormost tribune are forbidden from accepting complaints and attempting to resolve individual complaints through mediation; although they may accept tips and advice about situations in need of attention, and following this, to use their powers to investigate, publicize, and prosecute if they determine that doing so is for the good of all (not just for the good of a complaintant).
The seniormost tribune is the highest ranking official, and is the head of the organization. Any ceremonial functions which require a high-ranking official representative should be carried out by the senior tribune. The senior tribune may address messages to the voters and to the legislative houses, at the expense of the organization.
When an act is enacted, it is sent to the senior tribune to receive his or her signature, and the act is not considered official until he or she has signed it. The senior tribune may issue a signing statement as he or she signs the act, which must be published along with the act, although it carries no legal force.
Rather than signing it, the senior tribune may refer the act to the High Court for a test of its legality. If the act is found to be legal, it is returned to the senior tribune.
The senior tribune may refuse to sign an act, as an expression of his or her belief that it is immoral or dangerous. If the senior tribune will not sign or refer the act within three days of receiving it, or within three days of its being found legal after his or her referral, or if he or she is incapacitated, then the Chairs must sign it in his place (signing as the Chairs, not with as the senior tribune), thereby making it official, just as if the Tribune had signed it him or herself.
Decorations, awards, and titles of honor may be created and bestowed by the senior tribune on entities, provided that the senior tribune and his or her staff, and not the legislature, decides who is to be honored.
The middle and senior tribunes may not be forced to fill any of their special roles, and may not be punished for refusing to. They have full control over the manner of their fulfillment of these roles; for instance, the senior tribune may insist that he or she be allowed to promulgate acts with minimal ceremony and maximal efficiency.
The tribunes are directly elected by the voters by reweighted range voting. The necessary and sufficient condition for any elgible voter to be included on the ballot is self-nomination. Self-nominations may be withdrawn. The Office of Procedure shall announce the self-nominations as they come in.
Each electoral cycle, at the same time as the election of the elect commission, one tribune position is up for election. After the election of a new tribune, when there are three tribunes, the previously senior tribune steps down, the previously middle tribune becomes senior, and the previously junior tribune becomes the senior tribune. Hence, when there are multiple tribunes, each tribune is elected for a term of multiple electoral cycles.
