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‘We were defending Covenant’
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Posted on Feb 17 2005
House minority leader Rep. Arnold I. Palacios said yesterday that his group’s introduction of a resolution urging the federal government to appeal the “stateless” persons’ case “does not mean opposing their citizenship.”
“We’re not opposing the granting of their U.S. citizenship. We were concerned about the sanctity of the Covenant. That decision is contrary to the Covenant,” said Palacios.
“What the resolution is saying is that granting of the citizenship as embodied in the court decision is violating a portion of the Covenant,” he said.
A July 2004 decision issued by a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals favored the granting of U.S. citizenship to certain stateless individuals in the CNMI. The case was subject to appeal by the U.S. Department of Justice, which was given the 60-day maximum extension or up to Feb 13, 2005 to bring the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. If the department does not appeal the ruling, the circuit court’s decision becomes final and executory.
The CNMI Attorney General’s Office announced Monday this week that the department had decided not to appeal the case, thus making hundreds of stateless individuals in the Commonwealth U.S. citizens.
Palacios said he found it strange for the CNMI AGO to be “at the forefront” of that particular issue, noting that the agency “should be the first to defend the Covenant.”
“Unfortunately, it didn’t happen that way. We’re disappointed at that,” he said.
The lawmaker said local groups—a women group, Refalawasch—supported House Resolution 14-110.
The resolution essentially asked the U.S. AGO and the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Guam to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court the decision of the 9th Circuit Court.
Co-sponsors of the resolution included Reps. David Apatang, Jesus T. Attao, Joseph Deleon Guerrero, Heinz S. Hofschneider, Benjamin B. Seman, and Ramon Tebuteb.
From the House leadership, it was supported by Reps. Janet Maratita, Norman S. Palacios, and Martin B. Ada.
A similar resolution, introduced by Senators Pete P. Reyes and Thomas Villagomez, passed the Senate last month.
Both resolutions are considered moot at this time given the federal government’s decision to forgo the appeal.
