By Bryan Manabat
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Variety News Staff
THE Senate Executive Appointments and Government Investigations Committee will hold public hearings in Rota, Tinian, and Saipan on the governor’s nominees for Superior Court judge, presiding judge, and Supreme Court justice.
Last month, Gov. David M. Apatang announced three judicial appointments: Superior Court Presiding Judge Roberto C. Naraja to the Supreme Court as associate justice, Associate Judge Joseph James N. Camacho as presiding judge, and former Attorney General Joey Patrick San Nicolas as associate judge.
The appointments follow the resignation of Associate Justice Perry Inos, which created vacancies within the Judiciary. Naraja’s elevation to the Supreme Court created a vacancy for presiding judge, and Camacho’s appointment to that role opened the associate judge position.
The committee will hold its public hearings in Rota on March 19 at 10 a.m., in Tinian on March 25, and in Saipan on April 1.
Naraja served as an associate judge from November 2001 to March 2003 and was sworn in as presiding judge on March 28, 2003. He previously served as both chief public defender and attorney general.
Before joining the bench, Camacho served as a prosecutor with the CNMI Office of the Attorney General and later established a private law firm with his wife, who is also an attorney. In 2007, he was elected to the 16th CNMI House of Representatives, where he served as House floor leader. He ascended to the Superior Court on Nov. 10, 2011.
San Nicolas, a former attorney general and former Tinian mayor, is the first judge nominated from Tinian.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
