ATTORNEY Colin Thompson said “the lawsuit of minority bloc leader Sen. Paul A. Manglona and Saipan residents Carmen Patricia Deleon Guerrero and Bruce Lee Jorgensen against the Senate leadership over the governor’s impeachment trial is primarily political.”
Deleon Guerrero is a retiree while Jorgensen is a lawyer.
Thompson is the attorney of the defendants, the Senate leadership.
The Senate’s actions with respect to the adoption of the impeachment rules and the conduct of the impeachment hearing were not “opaque or hidden from public view, contrary to plaintiffs’ assertions,” Thompson said.
His clients’ actions did not violate the Open Government Act, he added.
The plaintiffs, who represented themselves, filed the Open Government Act lawsuit on May 11, 2022, and sought to invalidate the Senate impeachment rules and stop the Senate impeachment hearing that concluded on May 18, 2022.
The Superior Court had neither granted nor denied the petition for a temporary restraining order requested by the plaintiffs.
Republican Gov. Ralph DLG. Torres was impeached by the Democrat-Independent-led House of Representatives on Jan. 12, 2022.
The governor was accused of corruption, neglect of duty and felonies of theft as well as contempt. He had denied the allegations.
The Republican-led Senate acquitted him of all charges on May 18, 2022.
The lawsuit named Senate President Jude Hofschneider, in his official capacity, and Sens. Karl King-Nabors, Victor Hocog, Francisco Cruz, Justo Quitugua, and Vinnie Sablan, in their official capacities, as defendants.
In reply to the plaintiffs’ opposition to the defendants’ June 23 motion for judgment on the pleadings, Thompson said, “In this case, invalidating the Senate’s acquittal of the Governor would expose the political process to chaos, without any meaningful relief for plaintiffs.”
As stated earlier, the lawyer added, the impeachment rules are not subject to challenge under the Open Government Act.
“Nor, under the political question and legislative immunity doctrines, can the court order the Senate to rewrite its impeachment rules based on plaintiffs’ sense of how procedural due process should work, their beliefs about fairness, or the correct burden of proof to convict the Governor,” Thompson said.
Jorgensen has stated that the Senate impeachment hearing guidelines violated his right to anonymity, which he would have enjoyed without the sign-in requirement.
But according to Thompson, this “assertion…is more a matter of wishful thinking than reality. It is highly unlikely that an established resident of Saipan could attend such a significant proceeding in the Senate and remain anonymous. Moreover, it is doubtful that a member of the public could provide comments at a Senate meeting without identifying himself. The right to anonymity is a slender thread indeed upon which to base judicial intervention into a highly politicized process entrusted with the Legislature under the NMI Constitution.”
Guam Superior Court Judge Alberto Tolentino is presiding over the case after the CNMI’s five judges recused themselves.
