CHIEF Justice Alexandro Castro and Presiding Judge Roberto Naraja, in a letter submitted to the Legislature, are requesting a fiscal year 2022 budget of $11,832,100 for the CNMI judiciary. FY 2022 starts on Oct. 1, 2021.
The judiciary’s budget request is approximately $7 million more than its current funding level, “but not outside of our previous budget requests,” Castro and Naraja stated.
“For many years,” they added, “our third branch of government has taken a backseat due to other issues in the CNMI.”
“The lack of adequate funding has continuously strained judicial services and stretched employees extremely thin, both physically and mentally,” Castro and Naraja added.
“These challenges were exacerbated by the shutdown of the [judicial building’s] heating ventilation and air-conditioning system, Super Typhoon Soudelor and Yutu, and now the coronavirus pandemic.
“The domino effect of these of these challenges coupled with the economic downfall resulted in dire hardships.”
Castro and Naraja said the Drug Court division’s workforce has been reduced by 50% and is currently operating with a skeleton crew.
“The decrease in community supervision and monitoring of participants have resulted in an uptick of drug use relapses, which inevitably impact families — the bedrock of our society. This also hinders the judiciary’s commitment to adhere to the national trend of focusing on treatment-based methods and reducing punitive approaches,” Castro and Naraja stated.
They also noted the heavy caseload of the Family Court Division and the Office of the Adult Probation.
The judiciary likewise “lost” employees on Rota and Tinian, Castro and Naraja added.
They said they found the FY 2022 budget call issued by the Office of Management and Budget “alarming.”
“The judiciary is not a department within the executive branch. It is a third branch of our government tasked with a heavy burden of ensuring the rule of law is maintained on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota,” Castro and Naraja said.
“We are cognizant that we are facing unprecedented economic and public health challenges. However, it is our solemn duty to submit a request that accurately reflects the needs of the court, notwithstanding the circumstances.”
In FY 2021, the judiciary requested an $11,577,861 budget but received $4.74 million only.
