Court To Gov.: Submit the Constitution
Governor deJongh, forward the Constitution, as submitted, to President Barack Obama. Period.
That’s the court order in the latest round of legal battles concerning the submission of the document drafted by the Fifth Constitutional Convention.
Superior Court Judge Darryl D. Donahue, Sr., signed the order on December 23, giving the Governor ten business days to forward the document to Washington, DC.
The Court ruled that the Governor violated the provisions of Act. 6688 which clearly states, “The President of the Convention shall submit (the proposed Constitution) to the Governor of the Virgin Islands … and the proposed Constitution shall, within 10 days after it was submitted to him, be submitted by the Governor to the President of the United States.” (emphasis added)
Seems clear enough, doesn’t it? Maybe it’s that pesky word “shall” – remember how the Administration had trouble understanding that during the first Mafoliegate hearing?
But we digress.
The efforts to stall submission of the document began after the Governor failed to forward the document within ten days of its submission to him on June 1, 2009. After that failure, Constitutional Convention officers Gerard Luz James II, President, and Mary Moorehead, Secretary, filed a motion for a “Writ of Mandamus” which is a request for a court to order a government officer to perform a mandatory duty correctly, in this case, to submit the document within 10 days.  The work “mandamus” means “we command” in Latin.
The Administration, through Atty. General Vincent Frazer, responded that the motion was invalid and should be dismissed because James and Moorehead were not authorized to pursue this action as officers of the Convention. And while the court agreed that James and Moorehead could not sue in their capacity as officers, they could bring the action as individual taxpayers. And that’s what they did. This ruling is in response to that action.
The ruling is attached below and is worth reading. The court is clear on the direction the Governor should have taken, and states that when the Legislature passes a statute, the court must presume that the body “says in a statute what it means, and means it a statute what it says there.”
Kind of reminds us of when the Legislature said in Act 6917 that those reprogrammed funds were supposed to go to road repairs but were somehow diverted to improvements at Estate Mafolie…
Back to you, Governor.
Y’all remember when the Honorable Judge Andrews rendered an unpopular decision and he was not renominated for another term on the bench? I wonder how this decision is going to sit with this present administration…
I HEARD RECON ON JIMMY SHOW ABOUT THIS SUBJECT,HE SEEMS TO HAVE A DIRECT LINK INTO MANY AGENCIES. KEEP THE GOOD WORK UP RECON THE PEOPLE OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS HAVE YOUR BACK. WE WILL BE WAITING FOR 2010,WE WANT MORE INFORMATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT SO WE ALL CAN MAKE OUR DECISION ABOUT ELECTION 2010.AGAIN THANKS RECON MAY GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU SAFE.
I heard Jimmy’s show counting the number of legal cases lost by the administration (i.e., illegal firings, property taxes, constitution, etc.). The callers came up with 7 or 8 losing cases.
There are more cases in the pipeline that the adminsitration will lose in 2010.
As the old saying goes…”When you dig a grave be sure to dig one for yourself”
Good observation Observer, however this is diffrent. You must understand, the judge got the green light from the administration to render that decision. The decision clear the way for the newly appointed judge christian not be called in case there was a hearing in court regarding the constitution. It was all game. Nice move gov.
I tend to believe what you state So Jah Say. Donohue is not smart enough to have come to this result on his own. The man is an unadulterated idiot!!! Only in the Virgin Islands do the mediocre make it to the top.
So Jah Say and Krik Krak, whomever you are, it’s obvious that your stupidity is without question. The judge got the green light from the administration? Tell your dealers that the weed is going beyond its intended purpose. The legal embarassments the administration continue to suffer are messages sent FROM the judicial branch to the executive branch, you clowns. Governor DeJongh is not revered on Court Street. I’m there on a daily basis and know how the judges, both local and federal, feel about the governor.
Listening to sen. barsinger on the news just now….. he is against the draft constitution because it is “divisive” and “creates classes of citizens”, it “goes against the US constitution” and will “set the Virgin Islands people against each other”.
With his St. John perspective, the sen. fails to recognize that land in the VI is so limited and valuable that there is no protection for native Virgin Islander to keep his/her land while facing an increasingly high cost of living and compeating with wealthy mainlanders to buy land.
While I feel this way, I do not agree with the idea of native Virgin Islanders paying zero property tax. Everyone wants government services ( improved infrastructure, free public schools, etc.) I do not feel comfortable expecting others to pay for these things while I benefit without contributing. Native born Virgin Islanders should receive an exemption something like the vetera’s, senior citizens, farmers,etc. With a combination of these exemptions no one should pay less than 20%.
To me it’s a sense of pride to contribute to the services I receive.
I am not a Ancestreal Native Virgin Islander but I believe a property tax credit up to $10k per year would help ANVI people keep their land.
It will be interesting to see what Donna Christian has to say in an election year……..
Anonymous–
You must be the law clerk that wrote that drivel. Why did you not mention the conforming standards for the document. I stand by my previous post. Further, the judges shoulsd not harbor feelings about the Governor that are obvious to a bystander such as yourself. You should also not now broadcast their shortcomings in doing so. Who is stupid now? If you doan know….
So Jah say – Jah has not spoken to you. Stop using his name. It must be the weed.
krik krak did the judge send you to the can for weed too?
and I am a ANVI.And no matter what they do we gun live ya.
and i mean we gun live ya.
well well well only in the VI.
Well well well,
I have never done drugs or been before a judge in my life. I leave that for you ANVIs (Dowling, Motta, Bough, Simmonds, Plaskett, Canegata-Biggs, et al.– I could go on). You are an ill-educated, drugged-out bunch of dummies. Good luck on your embarrasing Constitution. I wish that the Governor would sent it to the President posthaste so that you guys can announce to the world your previously described status. LOL!! When you see the “praiseworthy” Judge Donohue ask him when he is going to try *** **** for trying to smuggle drugs out of the Territory. Now there’s someone you can accuse of smoking weed — you and anonymous. What you do not realize is that your Judge is aspiring to the federal bench and is willing to do the Governor’s bidding (Lord help the Territory if that ever goes through–nothing will ever get done and court will start at 2:00 p.m.). It is the Governor that would have to forward his name to the President of the United Staes. Go suck on that!
I made a mistake Krik Krak. I actually atributed your malfunction to weed when in fact your vice of choice just might be in your name. You need serious help and I suggest you seek help like yesterday.
I wonder how the governor is going to handle this situation. Will he have a press conference too explain himself? I hope he send that constitution to Washington, D.C. by New Years Day, because it don’t look like Judge Donahue is making any jokes.
Let’s consider this, although it may be basic.
Remember in the old days, when there was someone who suffered from mental disease? There was a tendency to brush it under the carpet, and put that diseased person in a psychiatric ward. Well, we, the normal and humane persons of our community are living in that ward.
Send the document. We need help from the outside. We need for the mainland to see and understand why things are so screwy down here. We need for the mainland to see that the patients are running the ward!
I would like to give my sincere thanks to all those delegates who voted and demanded that this draft be sent forward. If we had waited for a next constitutional convention to convene, we would just be that much further behind in getting the help we need.
Unfortunately, our governor is putting his sanity on the line. First he is under fire for his poor Diageo dealings, now he has to forward this silly document. Heck, Gov, you were elected by the people, so now deal with it. There are so very few in our community who agree with this silly draft, but there are so many who elected you to deal with this kind of absurdity. Pass it forward, make it go away. You, Mr. Gov, didn’t write it, but the people who elected you did. Pass it on. Let’s get some psychiatric help sooner than later.
From what I’ve heard and read, it sounds like the only people who support this document are religious nut jobs who think God gave them this land. Regardless of your religious points of view, you CAN NOT make laws based on your religious beliefs. That’s backwards and illegal. I’d like to hear what atheist/agnostic ANVI’s think about the document. The god in the Bible is a bona-fide, documented racist, but I’d like to think we in the modern world are better than that.
see dem fightin for power, but they know not the hour.
There will be hearings in Congress you nut cases. Congress will directly question the Officer’s of the Constitution, so stop thinking the document stands on it’s own. We need to stop living in the box.
I wonder if the governor will cover the situation concerning the constitution at the State of the Territory Address.
The guv’s message was clear.He is sending the document under duress. This convention was the greatest failure.The document contains many contradiction. I am curious to hear the President’s response.