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5 local judges recuse selves from hearing Torres’ lawsuit
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Posted on Dec 16 2021
All five Superior Court judges have recused themselves from hearing Gov. Ralph DLG Torres lawsuit against the House of Representatives Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee over its decision to hold him in contempt and his request for the court to quash the subpoena the committee had issued against him.
Last Tuesday, Superior Court Presiding Judge Roberto Naraja, and associate judges Wesley Bogdan, Kenneth Govendo, Joseph Camacho, and Teresa Kim-Tenorio all officially recused themselves from hearing Torres’ lawsuit.
In his order for recusal, Bogdan stated that hearing the case would be a conflict of interest as he served as the former legal counsel to Torres.
According to Govendo, he recused himself and returned the case for reassignment because over two weeks ago at a birthday party, the he held a discussion with Torres about testifying in front of the JGO committee.
Kim-Tenorio stated that she chose to recuse herself because her spouse is the director of the Legislative Bureau, appointed by the leadership of both Houses, which includes members of the JGO Committee who are defendants in Torres’ lawsuit.
Furthermore, co-defendant, sergeant-at-arms Peter Towai, is employed by the Legislative Bureau thereby making Kim-Tenorio’s spouse the hiring authority.
Naraja and Camacho both cited Commonwealth law 1 CMC § 3308 stating that they must recuse themselves due to a conflict of interest.
Now that the judges have all recused themselves, the court may have to find another judge to sit in. When this happens, usually a judge from Guam will be asked to hear the case.
According to a previous article, Torres and the Office of the Governor filed its lawsuit against the JGO Committee over its decision to hold him in contempt. Torres wants the Superior Court to declare that the JGO Committee’s subpoena served on the governor is invalid and unlawful.
Torres has also asked the court to quash the subpoena and stop the committee from enforcing the subpoena and Towai from arresting the governor.
In addition, Torres demanded payment of costs incurred in filing the lawsuit.
