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OAG seeks 9th Circuit decision on CNMI’s sovereign immunity
Attorney General Edward Manibusan announces that the Office of the Attorney General has appealed the denial of the Commonwealth’s sovereign immunity in the matter of Christian v. Commonwealth, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
“We are working to restore the Commonwealth’s sovereign immunity and ensure that the federal government respects the people of the Commonwealth,” states the Attorney General. “Without sovereign immunity, the Commonwealth can be called into the courts of another sovereign, such as the United States, and be forced to answer lawsuits originating under federal law,” Manibusan adds.
Presently, except for the Commonwealth, every state, and every territory with a federal court enjoys sovereign immunity.
The Commonwealth’s sovereign immunity was taken away in 1988 pursuant to a decision by the Ninth Circuit. The Court then reasoned that the Commonwealth is not entitled to sovereign immunity because the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution was not expressly applied to the Commonwealth in the Covenant. The United States Supreme Court has since clarified that the Eleventh Amendment is not the source of sovereign immunity. Instead, the states and the territories retain their sovereign immunity because it was not surrendered when the Constitution was ratified, or in the case of the territories, when they joined with the United States.
The appeal will require significant time and effort on behalf of the Office of the Attorney General. However, if successful, the appeal will save the Commonwealth substantial sums of money with its sovereign immunity restored. More importantly, the appeal will restore the dignity and respect due to the people of the Commonwealth by the federal government.
The appeal is being handled by James M. Zarones, who the Attorney General recently appointed as Chief Solicitor for the Office of the Attorney General. (OAG)
