May 8, 2002

The Honorable James V. Hansen

Chairman

Subj. House Resolution 521 re: Amendment of the
Organic Act of Guam for the purposes of Clarifying
the Judicial Structure of Guam
Page 2

Act. In 1993, the Guam Legislature passed the Court Reorganization Act which created the Supreme Court of Guam. The Supreme Court was recognized as the highest court of Guam. All parties involved, the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, the legal community, and community-at-large, put a lot of time, thought, and effort in reorganizing the judicial branch as a truly independent, co-equal third branch of government with the supreme court as the head of the judicial hierarchy. It took nearly a decade to fashion the legislation and pattern the Act properly like all other court systems nationwide. Nonetheless, within hours of the confirmation of the first justices of the Supreme Court of Guam, the Guam Legislature enacted legislation removing certain inherent powers of the Court. Shortly thereafter, the Supreme Court was stripped of its administrative authority over the lower courts. We can only ascertain that the Guam Legislature did what it did in passing such legislation for purely political reasons. The Guam Legislature has never given a satisfactory answer as to why the Supreme Court has been stripped of its administrative authority over the lower courts.

As it stands right now, the Guam Legislature has the power to create and abolish the Supreme Court of Guam. This reality has a chilling effect on Guam's legal community. In order to protect the integrity of a jurisdiction's judicial structure, the state supreme courts in all 50 states are founded in state constitudons. The reason for this is obvious. In our republican form of government with three separate co-equal branches, the source of authority for each branch emanates from the people through an adopted constitution. Guam is empowered by Congress to adopt its own constitution. Our current elected leaders are not in favor of establishing a Guam constitution until a newly defined federal-territorial relationship is negotiated. Guam has been engaged in commonwealth negotiations with the federal government for the last twenty years, Therefore, the source document in which the Supreme Court of Guam must be properly recognized as part of a third co-equal branch of government is the Organic Act.

Because the Organic Act did not establish the Supreme Court of Guam, the proposed amendments to the Organic Act contained in H.R. 521 are aimed at correcting this deficiency. The measure has been endorsed by the legal community and the public-at-large as a means of bringing stability to the judicial branch of the government of Guam. Stability within Guam's judiciary is what is needed. Stability will only be possible if the establishment of the Supreme Court of Guam is founded in Guam's current constitution, the Organic Act.

Since Guam represents America's presence in Asia, we respectfully urge that you and the U.S. Congress insure that we truly have a republican form of government with three separate co

May 8, 2002

The Honorable James V. Hansen

Chairman

Subj. House Resolution 521 re: Amendment of the Organic Act of Guam for the purposes of Clarifying the Judicial Structure of Guam

Page 3

equal branches by adopting the proposed amendments to the Organic Act found in H.R. 521. We, as your fellow American citizens of the United States of America in Guam, must be accorded the same assurances and rights to an independent judiciary whose powers, functions, and very existence can not be eliminated by the legislative body as has happened in neighboring Asian and Pacific countries and even here.

[A letter submitted for the record by Hon. Felix P. Camacho, Senator, 26th Guam Legislature, on H.R. 521 follows:]

As a Senator of the Twenty-sixth Guam Legislature I would like to express my views on
H.R. $21 and request that this letter be entered into the hearing record.

I certainly support the independence of all branches of government, inclusive of the
judicial branch of Guam. However, H.R. 521 is inconsistent with the fundamental
principle of respecting local self-government and goes far beyond establishing a separate
branch of government. The only real effect of H.R. 521 is to take away the power of the
people on Guam who enjoy self-government under the Organic Act. In fact, it would
impose a federal requirement on the local government and diminish the ability of Guam's
people to establish checks and balances within the administration of their respective
branches, establish divisions of the courts, duties for court officers, separate budgets and
set forth other local mandates. In sum, H.R. 521 seeks to place local legislative powers
within the Judiciary.

The choice to have Guam's Judiciary administered by a Judicial Council, Supreme Court
Justices or a combination thereof should be left to Guam's people through their clected
officials or by a constitution. Congressional intervention in this matter does not advance
that federal interest of self-government for Guam. A Judicial Council does not impede the
ability of Judges and Justices to carry out their constitutional duty to interprot law, hear
cases and render decisions as is the case of the Federal Judicial Council with relationship
to the U.S. District Courts and Courts Appeals.

Both Gurun's trial and appellate courts serve a community that elects lawmakers and
governors, and retains judges and justices. All have their respective roles and
responsibilities. I would not wish to see any governor empowered to create or dissolve
agencies or administrative divisions within the executive branch through executive order
void of a mandate from the Legislature, and I would not wish to sec Supreme Court
justices ompowered to do likewise in the judicial branch,

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The essence of a tri-partite form of government is the branches' ability to serve as a
check and balance upon each other by carrying out their individual respective roles and
duties. Given Guam's close-knit community, I feel that the appellate court should be
insulated from any form of conflicts of interest, including that of administering a trial
court whose very policies, practices and procedures could be matters of legal appeal.
Moreover, I feel Congress should consider honoring the Supreme Court Justice's request
of March 20, 2002, to "afford them the opportunity to resolve further issues pertaining to
the judicial branch without external interference."

In closing, Guam's Judiciary continues to oporate in a manner consistent with the U.S.
Constitution. There is no need for federal intervention to establish the form of
administration within any branches of Guam's government, inclusive of the Judiciary,
though it certainly has the constitutional power to do so.

Thank for the opportunity to express my views on HR. 521 and its effect on self-
government, self-determination and local control over local matters.

Jamacho

Felix Camacho

[A letter submitted for the record by The Hon. Mark C. Charfauros, Senator, 26th Guam Legislature, on H.R. 521 follows:]

As a current Senator of the 26th Guarn Legislature, a former Chairman of the 23rd Guarn
Legislature's Committee on Judiciary, and the author of P.L. 23-86 (which enacted the current
composition of the Judicial Council of Guam), I would like to express my views on H.R. 52. I
respectfully request that this letter be included in the printed hearing record.

The United States Congress rightfully granted Guam's lawmakers the authority to create a
Supreme Court of Guam in 1994. H.R. 521 supersedes local law in an arca that Congress
properly and wisely vested in the people of Guam as one of the powers of local self-government
that we have as a U.S. Territory. H.R. 521 is the exact bill introduced and heard in Congress in
October of 1997. As I indicated before the Committee on Resources then, Guam already has the
tools of self-government, which it has exercised for the last 51 ycars under the Organic Act of
Guam.

In one of its first act as a Legislative body, the First Guam Legislature enacted P.L. 1-17, which
provided for a Judicial Council to oversee the administration of Guam's Judiciary. Since then, the
Legislature was empowered with enacting a Supreme Court of Guan, which it did in 1994. In
1996, the Supreme Court Justices were sworn in, and the Supreme Court of Guam came into
existence. Likewise, the Guam Legislature exercised its responsibility to set the internal structure
of that Judiciary by reconstituting a Judicial Council of Guam to include three Justices and three
Judges, the Attorney General of Guam, and the Chairman of the Legislature's Judicial
Committee. The concept of a Judicial Council has worked for the Federal Court system and the
nation's largest jurisdiction (California) and smallest jurisdiction (Washington D.C..).

Despite changes in the majority of the Guam Legislature, there has been one constant with
regards to the Judiciary of Guam; ie, the separation of administration of the Supreme and
Superior Court and the use of a Judicial Council to set policy for that administration.