If the nomination process will involve Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye, why not have Inouye/others recommend a qualified person of PI descent from Hawaii to fill the vacancy. There’s a large pool of competent/qualified HI attorneys of PI descent who most certainly would appreciate the opportunity to fill the vacancy.
And perhaps most importantly, a nominee from Hawaii — of PI descent or otherwise — would not be susceptible to the large-scale if not wholesale conflicts-of-interest to which any CNMI attorney would be subjected if appointed the U.S. judge.
Can you just imagine the multitude of conflicts that’d be faced by…oh…say a member of the Villagomez clan or the Demapan clan if a person from those clans became judge…then again, maybe if that were the case, we’d still have a Villagomez as CNMI lt. governor.
It wouldn’t be a first. Judge Munson’s predecessor, Judge Laureta was of PI descent from Kauai, but it certainly might prove beneficial to the CNMI community at large.
Take these thoughts and run with them…or don’t.
BRUCE JORGENSEN
Honolulu, Hawaii
