State of the Judiciary Address

[B]By MIGUEL S. DEMAPAN[/B] [I]Special to the Saipan Tribune[/I] [I]Editor’s Note: The following is the State of the Judiciary Address delivered by CNMI Supreme Court Chief Justice Miguel Demapan to a joint session of the 16th Commonwealth Legislature in the House of Representatives chamber on Capital Hill July 11, 2008. It is being published as a series due to its length.[/I] [B][I]Last of a three-part series[/I][/B]

Although, we would at times love to speed up the processing of cases in the system so that we could get a higher and faster disposition rate, the justice system by nature is a slow one. It is by nature slow so that errors, if they occur, occur at a low and insignificant rate. What is most troubling to any jurist or even to you is to have someone jailed or incarcerated, or to have one’s property transferred to a wrong party because of sloppy or inadequate research. My friends, I stand here to reassure you that in your judiciary, we will spend all the time necessary to avoid such grave errors. And, trust me, we will do it even if it takes time to keep our standards high and render justice.

I turn now to the Supreme Court, your highest court in the Commonwealth. Its primary responsibility is to review and rule on appeals from the Superior Court or on certified questions coming from local officials or the Federal Court. As you may know, the Supreme Court does not conduct any fact finding trials; rather our role is to determine if legal or procedural errors were committed by the trial judges in our Superior Court. Your Supreme Court is sometimes referred to as the court of last resort and is the only appellate court in the Commonwealth. We do not have an intermediate appellate court. Since it is the only appellate court in the Commonwealth, and our Constitution does not provide for a discretionary review of cases in the Court of last resort, we must entertain all cases filed before us.

As provided in my annual report, the Supreme Court entertained a total of 34 filings, and disposed 37 cases, excluding motions, last year. Criminal and civil appeals make up the majority of the court’s case load at 68 percent.

For the Superior Court, we saw the filing of 5,630 total cases. Of these, a total of 3,376 cases were disposed of. The Probation Office is also quite busy. A total of 453 cases were referred to the probation office last year. As of now, the Probation Office services 3,100 individuals. This is a substantial number, bearing in mind that there are only 11 officers in the office, and that they also monitor all three major municipalities in the Commonwealth. Aside from their workloads, they give courtesy assistance by monitoring probationers from other jurisdictions. This officer to client ratio is excessively low when compared to the national average. It is no wonder why the recidivism rate is also high.

So if you look at these statistics, you will realize that your justices, judges, and staff are indeed busy at work.

I am now going to address the perennial issue of budget allocation for the judiciary. In a financial crisis like the one we are now in, we all know that fiscal conservatism is the key to survival. We also know that no matter which governmental branch you are in, the one constant assumption is that all three branches are essential in our democratic system of government. Just as I cannot argue that we take the resources from the legislature to fund the judiciary, the opposite of that argument would also not hold water. We have to recognize that we are a three branch government, and although we are separate and equal, the need for harmony and cooperation is essential to achieve what our people expect us to do. Our motto in the judiciary, and we do it each time we meet to assess our budgetary needs before submission to the legislature, is the following:

“Be conservative. Do not ask more than what we need, and keep in mind that there are other services that our people are expecting to receive, and at the end of the day we have to account for every nickel and dime that the Legislature or the people provides.”

This short paragraph I just read to you says a lot. It speaks volumes about our branch of government. It means that even as the judiciary, a branch separate and equal to the two other branches of our government, we still have to be accountable to you and the public in general. After being entrusted by you to ensure that the rule of law is paramount in society, we are resolute in our obedience to just that. Accountability to you is a must for us to keep the trust you have bestowed upon us.

Before I end my presentation today, I would like to make it absolutely clear that the disposition of over 5,664 cases or court matters within our Commonwealth Judiciary last year would not have been possible without the collaboration of the other branches of our government. Our strong partners in the legislative and executive branches, have time and again stepped up to the plate and have assisted in making sure that we have the personnel, facilities, and technology to properly do our work.

Our work would not be possible, without the strong commitment that exists within our court staff. This includes the various department heads, the administrative office of the courts, headed by Mrs. Margarita M. Palacios, now retired, and the current Director of Courts; add to that your legislative fiscal analyst, the Legislative Bureau, and your personal staff and counsel. So it is only fitting that I recognize all these exceptional public servants. They have worked tirelessly to ensure that we are given the resources to do our jobs. All have our respect and all have our gratitude, and I applaud them this morning.

Before I leave you today, allow me to say the following. I am sure everyone in this chamber understands that the beauty of our Commonwealth goes far beyond its beaches, mountains, islands, and its great underwater resources. The Commonwealth’s true beauty, however, is in the heart of its people and its unique culture. All of our Commonwealth residents want to prosper; they want to live and contribute to this great Commonwealth, and ladies and gentlemen, we must create a safe environment for this to happen. Our people also want you to protect the judiciary, because it is the last great barrier reef between themselves and the power of government. We, as judges, must also revisit our oaths, which in summary state that we must provide that protection to all of our people fairly and expeditiously every time we take the bench to preside over a case.

I am sure you yourself renew your vow each time you enter this building. So I say as the representative of the judiciary, before we go about the people’s business, it is of great importance that we continue working together for the common good, consistent with the great tradition established in our short history. This, ladies and gentlemen, is our shared destiny. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the mandate of the people who placed us in our offices.

Si Yu’us Ma’ase and May God Bless this great Commonwealth.

[I]Miguel S. Demapan is the Chief Justice of the CNMI Supreme Court.[/I]