PALAU Associate Justice Kathleen Salii yesterday joined the CNMI Supreme Court appellate panel that will hear arguments in two immigration cases.
Salii, who is Palau’s first females justice, sits on the panel with Associate Justice Alexandro Castro and Justice Pro Tempore Virginia Sablan-Onerheim.
The appeal involves two separate lawsuits filed by He Guo Qiong and Chen Yi Gong against the CNMI government and the Department of Labor and Immigration.
Court records showed that in 1997, immigration agents searched Jin Apparel garment factory and arrested He and Chen for working illegally. Both were scheduled for deportation.
In 1999, the plaintiffs sued the government alleging unlawful search and seizure as well as violation of federal civil rights. They also alleged that an immigration guard beat up one of them while they were in custody.
The trial court issued orders denying the government’s motions to dismiss which was later appealed.
Attorney Joe Hill represented the plaintiffs while Assistant Attorney General Joe Bermudes appeared for the government.
After listening to the arguments, the justices placed the matter under advisement.
Salii told reporters that she is “very happy” to be appointed as justice pro tempore of the CNMI high court.
“I’ve been on the bench in Palau for the past two years and this is my first session outside Palau,” said Salii, who at 37 is the youngest magistrate of her country.
Salii said she grew up on Saipan. She finished her elementary and high school education on the island.
“Coming back is almost like coming home and I look forward to working with all justices of the CNMI Supreme Court,” she said before the hearing.
Salii finished college at the University of Hawaii and got her law degree at the University of Denver in Colorado. She worked at the Attorney General’s Office in Palau for four years and a half. She practiced law as a private attorney for a year before she was appointed to the bench in Sept. 2000.
Salii will also join the 20th Mt. Carmel High School reunion this week.
Chief Justice Miguel S. Demapan in an interview said it is the first time under his term that the high court will bring in a justice from Palau to sit on the appellate panel.
Demapan said he and Associate Justice John Manglona recused themselves from the cases.
Demapan said Palau, like the CNMI, is a member of Pacific Judicial Council. “The Council shares ideas about the judiciary. As much as possible we help each other,” he said.
