Demapan in his letter to Senate President Paul A. Manglona, Ind.-Rota, and Speaker Eli D. Cabrera, R-Saipan, said the employees the judiciary wants to hire will not fill new positions. These are positions that have become vacant due to staff turnover, Demapan added.
The vacant positions are for two law clerks and an assistant clerk for the high court; one law clerk, one deputy clerk and secretary to the presiding judge; systems administrator, and computer specialist for the judiciary administrative office; and a staff attorney for the Law Revision Commission.
Demapan said filling these vacancies fall within the 74 FTEs for the judiciary established in Public Law 17-21, thus funding is available for these vacancies.
“The filling of these positions is vitally important to the efficient delivery of essential court services and ultimately the welfare of the CNMI public.
These positions are critical to the courtroom operations of the judiciary,” Demapan said.
He added that while the judiciary has taken measures to implement austerity hours due to severe budget constraints and government-wide deficit forecasts, “these imminent vacancies if left unfilled will leave the courts paralyzed.”
