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On January 7, 2010 the Commonwealth Judiciary and the Northern Marianas Judicial Historical Society presented its bi-annual “Law and the Freshman Legislator” program especially designed and timed for representatives and senators-elect prior to their initial assumption of their elected duties.
The condensed civics lesson given by Justices Castro and Manglona provided an overview of the US Constitution, the CNMI Constitution, and the Covenant with attention to the concept of Separation of Powers between the Executive , Legislative and Judiciary branches of government. Also reviewed were the origination and differences between, Common, Statutory and Regulatory Law . The appellate process and recent Supreme Court Decisions were reviewed.
Judge Ramona V. Manglona presented on the concepts of Statutory Interpretation, the importance of clearly expressed legislative intent and the limits on legislative power.
Sonia Camacho, Special Assistant to the Presiding Judge conducted a tour the court house. She told of the functions of the Clerk’s Office, the Recorders’ Office, the Family Court and Probation offices.
Surrounded by walls of legal books Heather Kennedy, Executive Director of Law Revision Commission spoke about her group’s task of compiling and codifying the CNMI’s permanent laws in the Commonwealth Code.
A one hundred plus page binder was made available to each attendee about to begin service to the community as a law maker. Included in the material was such invaluable information as “How Business is Usually Conducted in Deliberative Assemblies” and a “Glossary of Common Parliamentary Terms.”
Judge Perry B. Inos moderated a working luncheon which covered a broad range of subjects based on questions posed by the legislators-elect. The dialogue provided the opportunity for the justices and judges to address the importance of drafting clear and concise laws. Also discussed were the complications brought about by unfunded mandates, and identified was the progress that has been made toward greater judiciary efficiency by way of electronic document filing and specialized information networks such as a master fingerprint depository accessible from various locations throughout the CNMI.
Eleven legislatures-elect attended: Senator-elect Francisco Cruz, Representatives-elect Ramon Basa, Eliceo Cabrera, George Camacho, Trenton Conner, Frederick Deleon Guerrero, Rafael Demapan, Sylvestre Iguel, Felicidad Ogumoro, Joseph Palacios, Edmund Villagomez . As presenters at the half day conference were CNMI Supreme Court Chief Justice Miguel S. Demapan, Associate Justice Alexandro C. Castro, Associate Justice John A. Manglona, Associate Judge Romona V. Manglona, and Heather Kennedy, Executive Director Law Revision Commission. They were joined for the working luncheon / round table discussion by Associate Judges Perry B. Inos, David A. Wiseman and Kenneth L. Govendo.
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