The U.S. Department of Justice replied by filing its own motion to admit that it committed an error.
“The filing of a reply brief 33 pages in length was in no way deliberate,” according to the department’s Theodore W. Atkinson.
He said he filed the reply brief “several weeks after consulting the page limitations…but mistakenly believed at the time of filing that the page limit was 35 pages, not 25 pages.”
Atkinson said he apologizes to the court and to the governor’s lawyers “for the inconvenience” caused by his mistake.
He admitted that he became aware of it only after the governor’s lawyers filed the motion to strike.
According to the Jenner & Block law firm, which is representing the governor, the length of the justice department’s reply “grossly exceeds the limits imposed” by the rules. “It also raised new arguments for the first time, to which the commonwealth has had no opportunity to respond. Accordingly, the court should strike the reply.”
Jenner & Block also wants to be heard regarding the justice department’s arguments “at a hearing on the underlying motion to dismiss. The commonwealth respectfully requests [that] the court schedule such a hearing at its earlier convenience.”
The justice department, for its part, is asking the court to allow the 33-page brief reply, saying it was necessary to respond to numerous issues not originally addressed by the CNMI in the initial memorandum to which the U.S. was required to respond.
The justice department denied that it “raised new arguments for the first time.”
Pursuant to the rules, Atkinson said he called the governor’s counsel “prior to filing this motion.”
He said the U.S. did not raise new arguments in its reply “and thus [the CNMI] is not prejudiced by an inability to respond to new arguments. Moreover, accepting the reply brief as filed will benefit the court by addressing the numerous issues raised in the motion.”
The U.S., Atkinson added, does not object to the CNMI’s request that “the motions to dismiss and the motion for a preliminary injunction be set down for oral argument at the convenience of the court.”
The Fitial administration filed the lawsuit to prevent the implementation of the federalization law in June, saying it will destroy the local economy.
The justice department, however, said the Covenant between the islands and the U.S. allows Congress to extend federal immigration law to the Northern Marianas.
