Working at the Capitol

Monday I spent my first full day working at the Capitol. While I had visited the Capitol a half dozen times, I had not worked there as part of my job. For the foreseeable future I am still working at my office in Koror. However, recently we permanently moved all our appellate arguments up to the Capitol. On Monday, we had the first appellate hearings in our new building.

We have not had any appellate hearings since early January because Justice Miller has been off-island back in the U.S. He went to the U.S. in December to care for his ailing father. Unfortunately, his father passed away and Justice Miller stayed in the states to be with his family. He just returned to Palau last week. Another reason why we haven't had hearings is because we were waiting until one of our off-island part-time justices visited. The four Supreme Court justices can hear many appeals, but because the island is so small they sometimes have conflicts with the parties, often because they are related to a party or attorney. The Land Court and small claims judges can sit on the appellate panels by designation, but sometimes even then we don't have three unconflicted judges for an appellate panel. In those situations, we rely on a couple off-island judges who have been appointed as part-time associate justices. They come here about once year to serve on panels. This time it was Justice Janet Healy Weeks, a retired justice of the Guam Supreme Court. She has been a part-time justice here for over a decade. We had her on ten appeals for her short time here, but most were done without argument. The arguments were held Monday and Tuesday at the Capitol.

LB, Christy, and I drove up to the Capitol in my car. With the access road on the east side still closed we had to go up the west side and around the northern tip which took us just over an hour. Our offices are on the first floor of the building near the door facing north with a great view of the ocean and Ngiwal. (See my pictures of the Capitol from my tour back in November). Previously, our offices had furniture but now they also each had a computer and phone and were ready for use. LB went off to her morning hearings while Christy and I got settled. Having two separate offices is a bit complicated in trying to figure out what things I need and when. I brought with me office supplies, files, and electronic documents. After the morning hearings, LB, Christy, and I joined Justices Weeks, Salii, and Senior for lunch at the little deli down in Melekeok village. We sat on their patio which luckily was covered because it was very windy and it started to rain heavily. As it is the only lunch place there isn't any choice, but luckily their food is great and we enjoyed the lunch. We couldn't tarry for too long because we had to get back for the afternoon hearings.

The afternoon hearing was my appeal. It was a criminal case dealing with a conviction for dealing methamphetamine. The legal culture in Palau is more informal than in the states, but the new courtroom is just like courtrooms in the states and it is a bit disconcerting to walk into such a formal looking legal environment. The hearing didn't take too long and then we had a judicial conference about the case. The judges came to a quick decision and I was able to get the opinion filed later that afternoon. Afterwards, we also discussed some of the other cases assigned to Justice Weeks that were decided without a hearing. We were able to finalize a few other opinions and had a very productive afternoon. At the end of the day, I packed up all my stuff to return to Koror. With my cases just about finished, I was not needed at the Capitol on Tuesday and could stay in Koror. We bid farewell to the Capitol until the next hearing. It is a great facility and I like my office. The views are spectacular and it is a scenic trip up there. I just wish it didn't take so long to drive there. Once they finish the access road the trip will be much faster and working at the Capitol will happen more frequently.