Federalization lawsuit may not be legal—House

With concerns raised about the legality of Gregory Baka holding the position of Acting Attorney General, members of the House of Representatives yesterday questioned whether the CNMI is legally able to bring the federalization lawsuit against the U.S. government.

The House and Senate believe Baka is violating the law by holding the position of Acting Attorney General. He succeeded to the position of Acting Attorney General on Sept. 28 in the absence of an appointed Attorney General, after Matthew Gregory stepped down. A few weeks ago, Baka submitted a letter to the U.S. District Court saying that the Jenner & Block law firm is authorized to represent the CNMI in the lawsuit, which seeks to halt the implementation of federal immigrations laws to the CNMI. The U.S. government argues that only the Office of the Attorney General can file a lawsuit on behalf of the Commonwealth.

Questions about Baka’s standing bring more issues to light about the lawsuit, Rep. Rosemond Santos said during a House session yesterday.

“Supposedly, Mr. Baka authorized them to represent the CNMI, and that in and of itself may be questionable because his position may now be questionable. So there are those issues now as well,” she said.

Rep. Tina Sablan said when she spoke with Baka over the phone recently he said the authorization was implicit. Baka said he did not issue the initial authorization, the representative said. Although, he admitted to her, his unwillingness to “unauthorize” the lawsuit amounts to an implicit authorization on his part. The lawsuit was filed Sept. 12, before Baka succeeded Gregory.

In an October letter to Sablan, Baka said the OAG has referred hundreds of pleadings annually to outside counsel without the Attorney General’s personal review or signature.

“Yet as the Deputy Attorney General (currently Acting AG since Sept. 28, 2008) I did personally review and comment upon various drafts of the complaint in our Section 903 litigation,” he wrote to the representative.

“I think it’s really high time we get to the bottom of this. Is this a legal lawsuit?” Sablan asked during yesterday’s House session.

House Speaker Arnold Palacios also inquired whether Baka is authorized to sign off on anything if he is an Acting Attorney General,

“If we can get to the bottom of that, that in of itself is important,” Palacios said.

In January, Santos, chairperson of the Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee, wrote Gov. Benigno Fitial, stating that Baka is violating the law by holding the position of Acting AG.

“It has been more than 30 days since Mr. Baka’s temporary appointment as Acting Attorney General and such appointment has not been forwarded to the Legislature. As a result, Mr. Baka’s appointment is in violation of existing law,” Santos wrote.