Most of the criticism comes from the usual we-hate-this-administration-whatever-they-do crowd and from a few crackpot bloggers, but there are reasonable arguments from others including few of my colleagues in the House and others. Their claim seems to be we can talk with the Agencies in question and work out all the problems without a lawsuit. Maybe so, maybe not. As it stands they have no mandate to anything but what is best for the Federal Government. The counter point is that there is no reason to beg Federal Agencies to draft regulations we can live with if those regs are never written because a court shows the U.S. Congress overstepped its bounds when it drafted the law to begin with.
Once you get past all the hate speech and the hurt feelings and the misinformation you will find, as I have, that there are some pretty good reasons to back Governor Fitial in his bid to find answers to some interesting and vitally important questions by suing in Federal Court. His Administration’s decision to let the Courts decide is, I believe, a wise one for the following reasons:
First, our economy is in terrible shape and will get much worse once we lose the ability to administer labor to sustain what is left of the economic system here. The alternative is to cut the CNMI population and economy back to about one third of it’s present size as businesses, hotels and other tourist related endeavors go out of business for want of having enough employees to keep the doors open. This has and will continue to hasten the departure of more Chamorros, Carolinians and other U.S. citizens out of the CNMI as businesses fold and the island’s economy is able to sustain fewer and fewer residents. Should a group of four unelected U.S. bureaucracies be allowed to decide the fate of the citizens of the CNMI via a system of regulations made in the interest of the U.S. and not in our own CNMI interest?
Second, while the lawsuit does not seek to change the Non Voting Delegate or the Immigration portions of U.S. PL 110-229, it does seek redress of those portions of it that unlawfully take over control of our internal labor system and place unrealistic restrictions on other functions of internal affairs. It does so because there is a clear cut promise in our Covenant with the United States. That promise binds the US to not just allow but to foster and help the CNMI be Self Governing. That promise binds the US to not just allow but to aid the CNMI in a quest to be Economically Self Sufficient. Is the letter of the law in the Covenant Agreement being broken by 110-229? Is the spirit of the Covenant Agreement that cedes self-government to local authority being broken by 110-229?
Third, a great deal of social disruption has and will continue to occur as thousands of guest workers are forced to leave by the Federal system being imposed on us. Many have lived here for years. Many have U.S. citizen children. They comprise the mainstay of our workforce comprising more than 2/3rds of all those who work in the CNMI. Should these guest workers be thrown out of the Commonwealth? Should their numbers be “reduced to zero” as 110-229 calls for?
Fourth PL 110-229 not only violates the Covenant, our sacred trust agreement with the United States, it violates the very articles of the U.S. Constitution as well. By singling out the CNMI for unequal and unfair treatment does110-229 violate Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution? Were our rights under the U.S. Constitution further violated because we did not at the time 110-229 was enacted have any representation in that body of lawmakers?
Fifth, and perhaps the most important reason for filing suit is to show officially that the CNMI does not consent by default to unequal treatment and abrogation of our right to internal self government as compared to other States and instrumentalities of the federal system. Section 105 of our Covenant forbids the U.S. from taking away our right to self government without our consent. We imply that consent if we do not object. This suit shows that we certainly do object. Will our children, years in the future, look back on we the leaders of the CNMI as criminals who let their hard won freedoms be taken away and their chances for economic success be destroyed by an unlawful takeover of our sacred right to govern ourselves as we see fit? Does 110-229 violate the U.S. Constitution?
The issue is much more complex than a few short paragraphs can describe. The hurt it will cause is much more devastating than we can go into here. To paraphrase a former colleague, “Why not” let the Courts decide these contentious issues and the questions stated above once and for all. To claim we don’t have the money to try and protect the interests of the CNMI and the welfare and lives of our citizens is a lame and petty excuse. Are not the Freedoms outlined in our Covenant worth one quarter of one percent of our budget? Will we let ourselves be overrun and without even asking for a fair hearing?
These important questions cry out for answers. Think about the importance of our Culture. Think about the future of your children and their children and the children of all the citizens of the Commonwealth. This Lawsuit deserves our support. Waiting and hoping that some nameless U.S. Bureaucrat will be kind and write rules that we must live by in a way that helps us is both unwise and a terrible abrogation of our responsibility to do right by our people. This lawsuit calls for the U.S. courts to point out to the U.S. Congress that it has exceeded it’s authority and must back off.
REP. STANLEY T. TORRES
16th CNMI Legislature
