In search of a constitution

With the possibility of a constitutional convention now a topic of discussion, one would think people would want a copy of the CNMI Constitution, so they could see for themselves what it said, and whether they thought any of it should be changed. But finding a copy of the latest version of the Constitution—with all its amendments—is not easy.

It is not available as a separate purchase. Copies of the original Constitution are still available from Marianas Printing. They also have copies of the amendments proposed at the 2nd Concon (all of which passed, though one was later declared invalid.) Both an annotated copy and an unannotated one were once available from the Law Revision Commission, but they are not up-to-date. The current version, including all amendments, is only found bound into copies of the Commonwealth Code. The Code is available in both the federal District and the “state” court libraries, but access is limited, particularly in the District Court.

In the Guma Hustisia, the Code is not on the open shelf, but must be asked for. The building is open weekdays from 7:30am until 5pm, but there’s no one in the library from whom to ask for it until 8am, or during lunch hour (noon ’til 1pm). The same is true of the District Court library, which closes for lunch between 11:30am and 12:30pm

If people had access to a copy or the Constitution, they would realize, for example, that the CNMI’s bicameral legislature is not defined there, and therefore, a constitutional amendment cannot change the legislature from bicameral to unicameral, as Guam’s is. That provision is in the Covenant. More familiarity with the Constitution might also make it clearer that several other proposals being aired are NOT constitutional issues, but legislative ones.

The fully annotated version of the Constitution runs some 100 pages. But not everyone needs all the annotations. I’m not sure where responsibility falls, but it seems to me that someone should see to it that citizens have convenient access to an updated copy of their Constitution—not just now, when a Concon is under discussion, but in general—whenever they want to consult it.

And on the subject of constitutional conventions, it should be noted that the U.S. Constitution, now in existence for 203 years, has been amended only 27 times. On the other hand, a mere ten years after the CNMI Constitution was approved, the 2nd Concon came up with 44 amendments—of which all but one are still in effect. Perhaps even more noteworthy, there have been nine amendments made to the CNMI Constitution since the 2nd Concon, and all were made through legislative initiatives, without holding another concon.

Ruth Tighe
Tanapag, Saipan