Guam is an organized,unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña,and the most populous village is Dededo. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States,reckoned from the geographic center of the U.S. In Oceania,Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands and the largest island in Micronesia.
The Northern Mariana Islands,officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,is an unincorporated territory and commonwealth of the United States consisting of 14 islands in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The CNMI includes the 14 northernmost islands in the Mariana Archipelago;the southernmost island,Guam,is a separate U.S. territory. The Northern Mariana Islands were listed by the United Nations as a non-self governing territory until 1990.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
In the law of the United States,an insular area is a U.S.-associated jurisdiction that is not part of a U.S. state or the District of Columbia. This includes fourteen U.S. territories administered under U.S. sovereignty,as well as three sovereign states each with a Compact of Free Association with the United States. The term also may be used to refer to the previous status of the Swan Islands,Hawaii,Puerto Rico,and the Philippines,as well as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands when it existed.
Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions overseen by the federal government of the United States. The various American territories differ from the U.S. states and Indian reservations as they are not sovereign entities. In contrast,each state has a sovereignty separate from that of the federal government and each federally recognized Native American tribe possesses limited tribal sovereignty as a "dependent sovereign nation." Territories are classified by incorporation and whether they have an "organized" government through an organic act passed by the Congress. American territories are under American sovereignty and,consequently,may be treated as part of the United States proper in some ways and not others. Unincorporated territories in particular are not considered to be integral parts of the United States,and the Constitution of the United States applies only partially in those territories.
Peter Tali Coleman was an American Samoan politician and lawyer. Coleman was the first and only person of Samoan descent to be appointed governor of American Samoa between 1956 and 1961 and later became the territory's first and third popularly elected governor from 1978 to 1985 and 1989 to 1993,serving a total of three elected terms. In between,he had served in different administrative positions for Pacific islands.
The District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands is a federal territorial court whose jurisdiction comprises the United States-affiliated Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). It was established by Act of Congress in 1977,pursuant to an international agreement between the United States and the CNMI that brought the CNMI under United States sovereignty. The court began hearing cases in January 1978. The court regularly sits in Saipan but may sit elsewhere in the CNMI. The court has the same jurisdiction as United States district courts,including diversity jurisdiction and bankruptcy jurisdiction. However,the District Court is not an Article III U.S. District Court,and because of that its judge is appointed for a 10-year term instead of for life. Appeals are taken to the Ninth Circuit.
Benjamin Joseph "BJ" Franquez Cruz is a Chamorro lawyer,jurist,and politician who served as the Speaker of the 34th Guam Legislature from 2017 to 2018 and as Vice Speaker from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party,he previously served in the Guam Legislature from 2005 to 2007 and again from 2008 to 2018. He was Chief Justice of the Guam Supreme Court from 1999 to 2001. In September 2018,Cruz was elected to serve as Public Auditor of Guam.
The Supreme Court of Guam is the highest judicial body of the United States territory of Guam. The Court hears all appeals from the Superior Court of Guam and exercises original jurisdiction only in cases where a certified question is submitted to it by a U.S. federal court,the Governor of Guam,or the Guam Legislature. The Supreme Court of Guam is the ultimate judicial authority on local matters. In the past,appeals of questions involving the U.S. Constitution or federal laws or treaties were heard by a three-judge appellate panel of the U.S. District Court of Guam,from which appeals could be further taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,but this is no longer the case. Since 2006,the court's decisions have only been appealable to the Supreme Court of the United States,in line with the practice regarding the highest courts of the 50 states. The Court sits in the Monessa G. Lujan Memorial Courtroom,which is on the third floor of the Guam Judicial Center in Hagatna,Guam.
W. Michael Gillette is an American attorney and retired judge in the state of Oregon. He was a justice of the Oregon Supreme Court,where he served from 1986 until 2010. A graduate of Harvard Law School,he was previously a judge on the Oregon Court of Appeals from 1977 to 1986.
The District Court of Guam is a United States territorial court with jurisdiction over the United States territory of Guam. It sits in the capital,Hagåtña. Appeals of the court's decisions are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. It is not an Article III court,and therefore its judges do not have life tenure,but are appointed to ten-year terms.
The Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,1 CMC §3101,is the highest court of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI),exercising civil and criminal appellate jurisdiction over commonwealth law matters. It should not be confused with the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands,which exercises jurisdiction over federal law. The Supreme Court sits in the capital,Saipan,and consists of a Chief Justice and two Associate Justices. The CNMI has no intermediate appellate commonwealth law court,which means that the CNMI Supreme Court hears appeals directly from the trial-level Superior Court.
Guam The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Guam:
The Government of Guam (GovGuam) is a presidential representative democratic system,whereby the president is the head of state and the governor is head of government,and of a multi-party system. Guam is an organized,unincorporated territory of the United States with policy relations between Guam and the US under the jurisdiction of the Office of Insular Affairs.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Guam since June 9,2015 in accordance with a ruling from the District Court of Guam on June 5 that the territory's prohibition of same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Guam was the first territory of the United States to recognize same-sex marriage. On August 27,2015,the Guam Marriage Equality Act of 2015 passed by the Guam Legislature came into effect,officially incorporating the federal court ruling into statutory law.
Ralph Deleon Guerrero Torres is a Northern Marianan politician,who served as the ninth governor of the Northern Mariana Islands,from December 29,2015,to January 9,2023. He is a Republican from Saipan,Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The third longest-serving governor in CNMI history,Torres took office upon the death of Governor Eloy Inos on December 29,2015,before being reelected as governor in his own right in 2018. He previously served as the tenth lieutenant governor,having been elected to that post in 2014.
Judge Munson may refer to:
