Minutes after his disqualification was announced, Elliot Sanchez voiced concern that an SGA justice who had endorsed André Breaux’s presidential campaign voted to disqualify Sanchez from the Student Government Association’s presidential run-off.

The justice in question was Matt Cagigal, finance senior and president of the Beggars fraternity, which endorsed Breaux for president. Cagigal also serves as a justice of the SGA Court of Review, the body that disqualified Sanchez because of violating an order to not campaign Tuesday afternoon after Breaux and Desiree Tirado, commissioner of elections, complained about several campaign tactics.

Cagigal declined comment but confirmed that he had endorsed the candidate through his fraternity.

Because the court disqualified political science senior Sanchez unanimously, despite winning the popular vote by about 75 votes, it’s known by the unanimous vote that Cagigal voted in favor of disqualifying the opponent of his organization’s endorsed candidate.

There were no abstentions, confirmed Jessie Patton, mass communication senior and chief justice of the SGA court.

Three members of the judicial branch – political science junior Jeanie Donovan, philosophy senior Doug Dworak and philosophy sophomore Brandon Mauldin – weren’t present for the vote, sources have confirmed.

The remaining six justices – Patton, Cagigal, English writing junior Jess Ferlic, marketing senior Evann Pichon, psychology senior Sheree Tarver and mass communication sophomore Rachel Strassel – reached the decision after a two-and-a-half-hour discussion.

In addition, Breaux’s campaign Facebook group “André Breaux, Your President,” listed Cagigal as an administrator until the night of March 27, in a move Breaux hoped would glean more votes from the Beggars.

Breaux has since removed Cagigal from the group’s list of administrators because he feared it would be used on any “sort of attack on the legitimacy of the Court of Review process” and to avoid having to address what he sees as a non-issue

“It’s not fair to let a court that actually had André’s campaign members on it to overturn a decision that almost 100 students made,” Sanchez said Tuesday night.

When asked to elaborate on his initial comments about the situation on March 28, Sanchez declined comment because he is “officially contesting the election.”

“I want the information to get out there in as objective a manner as possible,” he said.

Patton said, “Justices have the ability to recuse themselves from a vote if they feel they are biased. We discussed that, and Matt didn’t feel he’d be biased and neither did the other justices.”

Both Cagigal and the court as a whole decided it would be okay for him to cast a vote and that there was no conflict of interest present because it was his organization that endorsed him, not him as a justice personally.

In addition, Patton confirmed that Cagigal could have abstained from the vote to disqualify Sanchez, and it wouldn’t have had any bearing on either the vote’s taking place or the result.

“I’d disagree that there was a conflict of interest,” said Breaux, the presidential winner by default. “Matt and I had an understanding that there was a clear line of separation in his functions – that he was both a justice and the president of the Beggars.

“He was endorsing me in his capacity as president of the Beggars – and that’s just one hat he wears. When he wore his hat as court justice, when he ruled on the decision, it was different. I’m sure he was objective in the ruling.”

Patton declined to comment on the nature Cagigal’s role in the discussion of the decision.

The court voted 5-to-1 in favor of the validity of the 2007 presidential election.

Ramon Antonio Vargas can be reached at [email protected].