refused to do so, and Adeang suspended the sitting. On 31 March Adeang claimed that the government had mounted a coup: since the police refused to eject two government ministers from the chamber of Parliament, in accordance with his ruling of 28 March, the rule of Parliament no longer governed the police. The Government, in response, denied the claim, stating that they were awaiting a ruling from the Supreme Court on the issue. The crisis continued into early April 2008, with Adeang stating that he would consider the Supreme Court's ruling as "just an opinion", and Keke responding that the Supreme Court, not the Speaker, had the jurisdiction to determine a member of Parliament's eligibility. Adeang questions Supreme Court ruling; suspends President Stephen and his ministers On 7 April, it was reported by the government that the Supreme Court had ruled in the government's favour, apparently confirming that the law forbidding members of Parliament from holding dual nationality was anticonstitutional and invalid, due to lack of quorum. The Court also reportedly rejected Adeang's claim that the courts have no jurisdiction over Parliament. Adeang said that he would seek legal advice before responding to the court's ruling. Relations between Adeang, as Speaker of the Parliament of Nauru, and the Stephen Administration, remained under severe strain following the ruling, and the Administration's ministers continued to exercise executive powers without the support of Parliament. Following 7 April release of the Supreme Court decision which ruled against the dual nationality law, with the passing of which Adeang was particularly identified, Adeang indicated that forty years of post-independence Parliamentary precedent had been set aside. For its part, the government of Marcus Stephen strongly welcomed the Supreme Court's ruling: whether or not for ideological and principled reasons also, it was seen as ensuring the immediate survival of the Administration. On 10 April, following allegations of unruly behaviour in the chamber of the Parliament of Nauru, Adeang, as Speaker, suspended President Marcus Stephen from Parliament, along with all members who supported Stephen's Administration. On 18 April, Stephen declared a state of emergency, dissolved Parliament, and announced fresh elections. In so doing, President Stephen claimed to be seeking a way out of the impasse which has characterized the relationship between the Government and the Parliament of Nauru, since the Stephen Administration lost a working majority there. For Adeang, the step was one which he had been advocating for