Carl W. Tobias
LEGAL scholar Carl W. Tobias, the Williams Chair in Law at the University of Richmond School of Law, said Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI earned a very smooth confirmation process.
The U.S. Senate on April 16 confirmed Manglona’s nomination to serve a second 10-year term as federal judge.
She enjoys a strong reputation as a very intelligent, diligent, careful and fair jurist, Tobias said.
“The [Senate] Judiciary Committee members asked her very few questions because a few more controversial nominees testified with her. She clearly and comprehensively answered all the questions asked. The committee approved her on a powerful bipartisan 20-1 vote, and the Senate confirmed her on a 96-2 vote, which is the second best out of almost 200 Biden appointees,” he added.
According to Tobias, the notable differences between Manglona and the judges from the 50 states and Washington, D.C. were the greater and sharper questions asked those nominees, especially by Republican senators.
“I cannot compare her with other nominees for territories, because there have been very few recently except for three Biden nominees confirmed for Puerto Rico,” Tobias added. “The GOP questioned those nominees more like mainland Article III nominees than like Manglona, partly because an act of Congress makes federal judges for Puerto Rico Article III judges with life tenure,” he said, referring to the U.S. Constitution.
The federal judges for American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands serve for a 10-year term and are appointed under the Territorial Clause of Article IV of the United States Constitution, Tobias said.
Tobias has studied federal court appointments for many decades and has written law review op-ed pieces about the federal judicial selection.
“The judiciary is a critical branch of the U.S. government, and the judges have enormous power,” he added.
