THE lawyers of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres on Monday filed an amended complaint for a declaratory and injunctive relief that no longer includes House sergeant-at arms Pedro Towai as a respondent in his official capacity.
Represented by his legal counsel Gil Birnbrich and the Banes Horey Berman & Miller law firm, the governor is asking the Superior Court to find the subpoena issued by the House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations invalid and unlawful.
An amended summons was also issued to the House JGO committee directing it to file a response within 14 days; failing that, judgment by default may be issued against the committee.
In an earlier media conference, the governor said Towai should not have been included in the lawsuit against the House JGO Committee.
In his complaint, Torres said the governor “is not and cannot be lawfully held in contempt of the committee, the House of Representatives or the Legislature for failing to comply with” a legislative subpoena.
The Republican governor was found by the Democrat-led committee in contempt of a legislative subpoena for refusing to appear before the panel which was investigating his public expenditures.
For his part, Speaker Edmund Villagomez has certified the committee’s finding of contempt and forwarded it to the Office of the Attorney General for prosecution.
According to the governor’s complaint, “the Constitution establishes, and the Commonwealth is required by the Covenant to maintain, a government having separate executive, legislative and judicial branches, co-equal in authority and dignity, with the executive power vested in a popularly elected governor, and the legislative power vested in a popularly elected legislature. This constitutional structure gives rise to a principle of separation of powers, preventing any one branch from dominating over and interfering with the functions of another.”
“It violates the principle of separation of powers for one branch to ‘command’ another branch to take any action whatsoever,” the complaint added. “In particular, it violates the Constitution and the Covenant for a committee of one of the Legislative Branch to command the live testimony of the Governor, particularly at a time and place for the length of its choosing, and especially on subjects that would implicate information protected by executive privilege. Such an action interferes with the function of the Executive Branch.”
The House JGO subpoena threatened the governor with imprisonment should he not comply fully with the subpoena, the complaint noted.
“The arrest or imprisonment of the Governor for defying a ‘command’ of a committee of a house of legislature branch would also unduly interfere with the functioning of the Executive Branch of government,” the complaint stated.
“The Governor has immunity from the subpoena, and its enforcement against him would violate the principle of separation of powers, and thus violate the Commonwealth Constitution.”
In addition, “there was no pending legislation related to the issues identified in the subpoena at the time the committee issued it, nor were any impeachment proceedings pending at that time. The Legislative Branch may not issue a subpoena for the purpose of law enforcement because these powers are assigned under our Constitution to the Executive and the Judiciary, yet the subpoena is manifestly for the purpose of law enforcement.”
According to the complaint, “by issuing the subpoena pursuant to investigations constitutionally committed to the AG and the Public Auditor, the committee has usurped their constitutional functions, and breached Article III, Sections 11 and 12 of the NMI Constitution, and the subpoena is thus unconstitutional and invalid.”
On Dec. 16, 2021, CNMI Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexandro C. Castro appointed former Judge Timothy H. Bellas to be the judge pro tempore in the lawsuit after Superior Court Presiding Judge Roberto C. Naraja, Associate Judges Wesley Bogdan, Kenneth Govendo, Teresa Kim-Tenorio and Joseph N. Camacho recused themselves from the case.
On Dec. 20, 2021, the House JGO Committee introduced House Resolution 22-14 calling for the impeachment of Torres on allegations of corruption, neglect of duty and felonies of theft.
The governor has denied the allegations.
