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‘Judiciary’s always underfunded, placed at bottom of totem pole’
Chief justice: OMB’s proposed $900K budget for ‘all others’ allows courts only 3 months to operate
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Posted on Jun 13 2023
Alexandro C. Castro
In his personal observation and experience in the last 34 years, the Office of Management and Budget has unintentionally placed the Judiciary’s budget request at an Executive Branch level and not as a separate branch of government, according to CNMI Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexandro Castro.
“As a result, the Judiciary is always at the bottom of the totem pole and underfunded,” said Castro, speaking at the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee hearing last Friday on the Judiciary’s 2024 proposed budget.
To resolve this issue, the chief justice recommends a different approach on the budget process this year.
“First, let us acknowledge that there are three branches of government and fund those branches accordingly,” he said.
Because of the CNMI’s fiscal condition today, the Judiciary supports Gov. Arnold I. Palacios’ submission with respect to the personnel category of $5.8 million, Castro said.
However, the Judiciary “strenuously opposes” the $300,000 allocation in the “all others” category in the proposed budget. Castro said this amount will only allow the courts to operate roughly three months into the fiscal year and then they have to close the doors of the courthouses on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota. Knowing Palacios and Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang, Castro said he does not think the two officials will support such an unintended consequence.
He said the Judiciary needs roughly an additional $900,000 on top of the $300,000 in the “all others” category, bringing their request up to $1.2 million.
“That amount, $1.2 million, sounds too much for a department and I agree. But as a third branch of our government, that $1.2 million request is more than reasonable and, more importantly, essential,” Castro pointed out.
