Galactic Senate/Legends

The Galactic Senate, also referred to as the Republic Senate or the Galactic Congress, was the legislative and executive branch of the Galactic Republic. It was located on Coruscant.

Purpose
The Galactic Senate was a place where all the Republic's elected and appointed Senators from the farthest reaches of the Galaxy would discuss major problems and come to decisions.

The Senate was the legislative and executive power of the Republic (although at various times by the end of the Republic's existence, the Office of the Supreme Chancellor held de-facto executive authority). It also had limited judicial authority, presumably for high-profile plaintuffs or cases too controversial for (or tied in) the Supreme Court&mdash;such as the trial of Ulic Qel-Droma or (presumably) the trial of Palpatine that Mace Windu and Anakin Skywalker wished for.

The Galactic Constitution invested the Senate with the power to regulate trade, maintain maps of the Galaxy's hyperspace routes, and to maintain the Republic's military. It is not known what other duties the Senate held; it was still a relatively weak body at the end of the Old Sith Wars, and presumably its strength was only increased by the Ruusan Reformation.

During the time of the Empire, the Galactic Senate was known as the Imperial Senate.

Composition
See Senators for a comprehensive listing.

The Galactic Senate was made up of 1,024 Senators, representing sectors in the Republic. Some were elected directly, while others were appointed by a planet's ruler (or even were the planet's ruler). Major interest groups such as the Trade Federation and Techno Union also had their own Senators.

The Senate was divided into many committees and subcommittees, each to handle various issues of Galactic government and lawmaking. Some of them were:


 * Allocations Committee
 * Appropriations Committee
 * Delegation of 2,000
 * Internal Activities Committee
 * Loyalist Committee
 * Senate Action Subcommittees
 * Senate Action Subcommittee for Corellian Trade Spine Defense
 * Senate Budgetary Committee
 * Senate Guard Committee
 * Senate Intelligence Oversight Committee
 * Senate Interspecies Advisory Committee
 * Trade Commission

In addition to the formal committees, there were informal political factions in the Senate, as well. In the years leading up to the Battle of Naboo, there were two main ones.



The first, led by Bail Antilles, consisted mainly of human Senators from the Core Worlds, and was interested in increasing the role of the Republic in Galactic affairs, or at the least, maintaining the status quo. This faction was responsible for electing Finis Valorum as Supreme Chancellor.

The second, led by Orn Free Taa, consisted mainly of Senators from the Mid Rim, Outer Rim, and interest groups. They wished to limit scope of the Republic's reach, and were responsible for electing Mas Amedda as Vice Chair, and in recalling Valorum and replacing him with Palpatine. Many of this group became Separatists and were expelled from the Senate by the time of the Clone Wars.

Architecture
See main article.

Thousands of years before the fall of the Republic, the Senate was housed in a hall building. At some point after the end of the Great Sith War, the Senate was relocated to the more-famous Senate Building.

The exterior portion of the Senate Building consisted of a large courtyard in front of the structure itself, a huge mushroom-shaped building.

The interior portion was a multiple-story room with thousands of chairs for Senators from each world. In the center, the Supreme Chancellor would sit with his or her aides.

Behind the scenes
Although Episode I and Episode III refer to the Senate as 'the Congress', it is not actually one in the traditional sense of the word. A congress is usually an elected body that serves as the legislative branch (opposite a executive branch) in a presidential system. Because the Old Republic was a parliamentary system, the executive branch of the government was thusly derived from members of parliament in the legislative branch.

Moreover, unlike the traditional understanding of a parliament, the Galactic Senate was a unicameral body (that is, it has one house), rather than the traditional bicameral body, which features both an upper house and a lower house.

Like many parliamentary systems, the executive branch (as aforementioned) would be elected by members within the Senate. The Supreme Chancellor serves as the prime minister, with the vice chair and speaker as deputies (though each have their own important functions within the structure of the Senate).

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith