Judiciary voices concerns about austerity bill

In a letter to acting Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez, Chief Justice Miguel S. Demapan and Presiding Judge Robert C. Naraja acknowledged and supported the need to find ways and means to reduce unnecessary government expenditures in view of the Commonwealth’s financial condition. In doing so, however, the Commonwealth Judiciary pointed out certain provisions of House Bill 16-83 that they said should be seriously scrutinized.

First, the bill mandates a total closure of the Judiciary on Fridays without exception. In cases involving warrantless arrests, both the federal and NMI Constitutions require that persons arrested be brought before the court within 48 hours for a bail hearing. If bail is imposed and the defendant in unable to post bail, he has the right to a preliminary hearing within 10 days.

“Violations of this important constitutional right are well documented in lawsuits throughout the 50 states of the union and the federal courts,” they said.

Because the monetary damages against the NMI government will undoubtedly be much more that the savings that may be realized, the Judiciary recommends that the Commonwealth courts be permitted to remain open on Fridays. As an alternative, Demapan and Naraja asked for the flexibility to address this issue internally, while still meeting the eight-hour bi-weekly reduction.

Second, section 8 of the bill directs that “[n]o position shall be filled without legislative approval.” In essence, this provision gives the legislative branch the exclusive and ultimate authority to decide which employees should be hired in the executive and judicial branches.

“This provision clearly violates the separation of powers doctrine, which is embedded in the Covenant and the NMI Constitution,” the two said.

“The Judiciary strives to maintain the rule of law in our island communities within its budgetary appropriations, which is only 2 percent of the entire CNMI revenue collection. Shutting the doors of the courthouse on the faces of our people on Rota, Tinian and Saipan and giving one branch of government the ultimate authority to hire all CNMI government employees is a route which the Judiciary strongly recommends not be taken by our elected leaders,” they said.

Villagomez has already vetoed the bill on Wednesday, citing the same concerns, among others.