US Senate confirms Manglona

The U.S. Senate confirmed yesterday the nomination of Ramona Villagomez Manglona, currently a judge in the CNMI Superior Court, to serve as a district judge in the U.S. District Court for the NMI.

Manglona, 44, will be the first person from the Northern Mariana Islands to be appointed to any federal court. She is also the first woman to be named as the permanent judge for the federal District Court in the Northern Marianas.

The Senate confirmed Manglona by unanimous voice vote at about 12:46pm. She is expected to receive her commission shortly and will fill a judgeship vacant since Feb. 28, 2010, when U.S. District Judge Alex Munson retired.

Her confirmation was immediately met with accolades.

CNMI Delegate Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, who recommended Manglona for the position to President Barack Obama in 2009, said that he was certain she would be a fine jurist. “[Manglona] is a person of impeccable character who will be as fair and impartial as a U.S. District Court judge, as she has proven herself to be as an associate judge of the Commonwealth Superior Court,” Sablan said.

The CNMI delegate also described Manglona’s confirmation as a milestone in the political development of the Northern Mariana Islands. “She exemplifies the degree to which the people of the Northern Marianas have risen to be self-governing and self-sufficient over the years since we chose to become part of the United States,” Sablan said.

Guam Delegate Madeleine Z. Bordallo also offered her congratulations: “I join Congressman Kilili Sablan, the people of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the people of Guam in congratulating our neighbor Ramona Villagomez Manglona on her confirmation…Judge Manglona is a highly respected jurist who has been effective in her positions in the judiciary of the CNMI. I am confident that she will serve our nation with distinction and that she will continue to inspire young people through her public service.”

The chairwoman of the Congressional Asian and Pacific Americans Caucus, Judy Chu (D-California) also offered her commendation. “I congratulate Judge Manglona… She has and will serve as an important role model, not only for women on the Mariana Islands, but also for Pacific Islanders everywhere.”

Manglona will be the 14th Asian-American and Pacific Islander district court judge and the eighth AAPI judge to be confirmed under President Obama.

Manglona was appointed to CNMI Superior Court in 2003. Prior to coming onto the bench, she served as the islands’ first female attorney general, winning confirmation from the CNMI Senate in November 2002.

A Saipan native, Manglona received her B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1990, and her J.D. in 1996 from the University of New Mexico, School of Law, where she made the Dean’s List and Honor Roll. Following law school, she clerked for Judge Virginia Sablan Onerheim and then for Presiding Judge Alexandro C. Castro at the CNMI Superior Court.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Northern Mariana Islands is a territorial court established by Congress under authority of Article IV of the Constitution. Judges appointed to territorial courts serve a 10-year term and may be removed from office by the president. They receive a salary of $174,000.

The district court in CNMI is authorized one judgeship. The court reported 72 new cases filed in 2010.

Manglona’s confirmation came to the Senate floor along with that of Paul Engelmayer, who will head the District Court in Manhattan. Both were recommended for confirmation by the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 7. Paul Oetken, the third person who came before the Committee with Manglona and Engelmayer at a hearing on March 16, was confirmed last week.

Sablan said that his office has been in regular communication with both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell since the Judiciary Committee action to make sure that Manglona’s confirmation came to the floor in a timely fashion.

“This has been a very orderly, sequential process with the Senate taking up one or two nominations each week,” said Sablan. “Judge Manglona’s nomination came to the floor this week as has been the expectation since May, right along with the others the Judiciary Committee recommended in April.”

Once nominated by the President on Jan. 27 this year, Manglona has moved relatively quickly through the process. But the extensive vetting before her nomination by the White House and the Justice Department, looking into the background of the potential nominee and interviewing her friends, family, and associates, took over a year.

Even after the nomination the scrutiny continues. The Senate Judiciary Committee staff compiles information on a nominee’s professional qualifications and fitness to serve based on a comprehensive questionnaire submitted by the nominee and on an evaluation by the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary.

“I know that this have been an arduous process and a very long time coming for Judge Manglona and her family,” Sablan said. “It took 14 months between the time I gave her name to the President and the time he sent her name to the Senate, then another six months to get to the Senate floor for a vote. Now that the confirmation is complete I am sure that she must feel quite relieved.”

Sablan recommended Manglona to replace Judge Munson several months before Munson retired last year. Munson had served as federal judge for the Northern Mariana Islands District for two decades. Sablan recommended Manglona not only because she was a worthy candidate, but also, he said, because he felt that an important precedent had to be set.

“The White House usually expects that the respective senators will put forward the names of individuals to serve on federal courts in their states. The Northern Marianas doesn’t have any senators, but we now have a delegate in Congress. I believe that the delegate should have the equivalent role that senators have in selecting who will serve on the federal court. I wanted to assert that role.”

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Ramona Manglona’s confirmation as district judge in the U.S. District Court for the NMI makes her:

– First person from the CNMI to be appointed to any federal court

– First woman to be named permanent judge for the district court in the NMI

– 14th Asian-American and Pacific Islander district court judge

– 8th Asian-American and Pacific Islander judge to be confirmed under Obama