A matter that Undergraduate Student Government (USG) President Galen Foulke said has taken his time away from more important issues wound its way to the USG Supreme Court last night.

Academic Assembly President Mark Levin argued before the court that Foulke was in violation of executive orders that were issued by the assembly and has been operating under a "fraudulent" copy of the USG constitution that was illegally altered in 2001.

Foulke defended what he called the "official" version of the constitution, which grants the assembly no power to issue executive orders.

The court went into closed session after the arguments and, as of press time, had not reached a verdict.

Saying "policy is policy and rules are rules," Foulke told court justices that according to university policy, the official version of a student organization's constitution is the one on file with the Office of Student Activities.

"Judy Albin [associate director of unions and student activities] told me the correct version of the constitution is the one they have on file there," he said. "That is the premier point I have to stress."

But Levin challenged the policy, saying Student Activities had been duped in accepting an illegal copy of the revised constitution in 2001.

"You're going to see ... just how easy it is to fake a copy of the constitution and put it on file with the Student Activities Office," he said.

Levin used e-mail messages from former USG Sen. Jason Covener, who claimed to have intentionally doctored the constitution in 2001 to exclude the 1998 amendment granting the executive order power to the assembly.

Foulke said he did not find Covener's message to be credible evidence. He said any constitutional amendment should have three pieces of evidence if it was passed: assembly minutes, Senate minutes and Supreme Court records. Levin only provided Senate meeting minutes from when the amendment was discussed.

After the hearing, Levin said that although the matter has taken time, he hoped settling the issue would save others time in the future.

Foulke, however, said the time it took to investigate the issue took him away from other tasks. "That put me out of commission for a week and a half," he said. "I'm having to put off things I'm extremely passionate about."

He said writing briefs, looking through old USG records and appearing at court have forced him to postpone certain meetings, such as one to investigate on-campus parking.

Covener, in an e-mail message, declined comment.