Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr., however, said the administration’s lawyers will file an “appropriate response” by Jan. 8, 2009.
Sablan, for her part, is “hopeful that the court will dismiss the lawsuit swiftly and as soon as possible.”
She added, “This lawsuit has proceeded without clear authorization from the attorney general in possible violation of the Constitution, and over the objections of the Legislature. The sooner this nonsense is put to rest, the better for all of us.”
For Reyes, however, “the federal government presents no new arguments in response to our complaint and motion for a preliminary injunction. We believe that the provisions of [the federalization law, or P.L. 110-29] that will take effect on June 1, 2009 will have a specific and serious adverse impact on the economy and citizens of the commonwealth. We look forward to a resolution of the issues by the District Court in Washington, D.C.”
In its motion filed on Tuesday, the U.S. DOJ said the lawsuit should be dismissed because the Covenant allows Congress to apply federal immigration law to the CNMI.
Sablan said the governor should explore other means to deal with the CNMI’s concerns regarding the federalization law.
The lawsuit, she added, “is undermining the CNMI’s ability to communicate and negotiate with the federal agencies in the development of immigration regulations that will be of significant impact to us, and it is costing the CNMI dearly, not only in terms of scarce resources, but also in terms of credibility.”
“Moreover, to this day, the administration has declined to explain how public funds are being spent for a lawsuit that has been filed in the name of the CNMI,” she said.
Sablan has again filed an Open Government Act request regarding the funding sources the administration has tapped to pay its Washington, D.C. lawyers.
