SAIPAN — Senate President Karl R. King-Nabors has formally questioned the legal basis for returning Anthony Macaranas to his post as Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, arguing that the move required the Senate’s advice and consent and that the administration has not provided the legal authority for bypassing it.
In a three-page letter to Governor David M. Apatang dated June 2, King-Nabors said the question is institutional and not directed at Macaranas personally. The letter concerns whether the executive branch may return a person to an advice-and-consent office after a vacancy without submitting that appointment to the Senate, and whether official acts taken by a constitutionally designated acting governor are legally effective when issued.
The dispute traces to earlier this year, when Acting Governor Dennis James C. Mendiola issued an order terminating Macaranas while Apatang was off-island, an action Mendiola attributed at the time to complaints and leadership concerns. Apatang, who said on his return that he was surprised and disappointed by the firing, later rescinded Mendiola’s order, and Macaranas returned to the office. Grants Management Director Epiphanio “Epi” Cabrera, dismissed in the same round, was also reinstated.
The Senate’s position, as set out in the letter, is that Mendiola’s termination order was legally effective when issued. King-Nabors cited Article III, Section 8(a) of the NMI Constitution, which provides that the lieutenant governor shall be acting governor when the governor is physically absent from the Commonwealth, and said the Constitution does not limit an acting governor to ceremonial or emergency duties or make an acting governor’s official acts subject to later ratification.
If the termination was effective, the letter argues, the office of Commissioner of Public Safety became vacant, and Macaranas’s later return amounted to an appointment or assumption of office after a vacancy. Under that reading, 1 CMC § 2902 required the appointment to be submitted to the Senate within 30 days. The letter said more than 30 days have passed with no appointment submitted, and that the Senate is concerned the statute now treats the position as vacant and Macaranas as ineligible for reappointment to the same position.
King-Nabors said the administration indicated at a May 26 meeting that the Attorney General had advised the procedure used to rescind Mendiola’s order was sufficient. The letter requests the legal basis for that conclusion, including any written, non-privileged Attorney General opinion or analysis. A follow-up meeting anticipated for May 29 did not proceed because the Attorney General was not available, according to the letter.
The letter said that if the matter cannot be resolved through interbranch communication, the appropriate course would be to jointly certify the legal questions to the CNMI Supreme Court under Article IV, Section 11 of the NMI Constitution, which would allow both branches to obtain a definitive ruling on the legal effect of the acting governor’s termination order, the rescission, and the expired submission period.
The letter reflects the Senate’s position that the administration’s full legal rationale has not been made public, and the questions King-Nabors raises about 1 CMC § 2902 and the effect of the rescission have not been ruled on by any court. The Senate said it remains willing to meet with the Governor and the Attorney General to discuss the matter.
