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Senate OKs initiative to cut number of associate judges
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Posted on Aug 04 2011
By a vote of 8-0, the Senate passed on Wednesday an initiative reducing the number of associate judges from at least four to three, even as Gov. Benigno R. Fitial has yet to make a decision whether to fill a new vacancy in the Superior Court.
Senate Legislative Initiative 17-11 now goes to the House.
If and when the initiative clears the House, the initiative will be presented to the voters at the next general elections.
Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota), the initiative’s author, said yesterday he’s hoping that the initiative will also clear the House, considering that there are fewer cases filed in court in the past several years and the CNMI government is in bad financial shape.
The NMI Constitution requires one presiding judge and at least four associate judges.
Manglona said the demand for at least four judges can no longer be justified. He said there were 12,235 cases filed in the Superior Court in 2000, but this dropped to only 5,630 in 2007 as a result of the declining population.
His initiative seeks to amend Article IV, Section 2 of the NMI Constitution.
Press secretary Angel Demapan said the governor has yet to make a decision on whether to fill the new vacancy in the Superior Court.
“That matter is under advisement right now. He has not made known yet whether he will fill the position or he has not made known who the candidate of choice will be to fill the position,” Demapan said.
The vacancy in the Superior Court was a result of former associate judge Ramona Villagomez Manglona’s recent U.S. Senate confirmation to serve as chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the NMI.
