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Search on for chief justice
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Posted on Dec 01 1998
Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio said yesterday he plans to meet with members of the judiciary and the Northern Marianas Bar Association to discuss the possible candidate to succeed Chief Justice Marty W.K. Taylor who is retiring on Friday.
In an interview with reporters, the governor said he had previously met with several judges to inform them that he might push back the nomination of a new chief justice due to funding problem facing the judicial branch in light of the impending 13.4 percent across the board budget cut.
Tenorio said he explained to them the decreasing revenue collections might affect the appointment of Taylor’s successor.
“According to them, there is no urgency (to pick a new chief justice),” he said after he was assured that the high tribunal could still make use of the available resources, “But definitely I will be appointing a (chief justice).”
Taylor will retire on December 5, ending 23 years of judicial service in the Northern Marianas. The chief justice had served as a public defender in CNMI for a long time prior to his appointment as associate judge in 1989 by Tenorio during his second term as commonwealth leader.
On September 22, 1995, the Senate confirmed Taylor’s nomination to the high tribunal by former Gov. Froilan C. Tenorio.
His famous decisions in recent years include a ruling upholding a lower court’s opinion that the incumbent governor was eligible to served a third mandate. (CBM)
