Benjamin Taisacan Manglona was a Northern Marianan politician and civil engineer. He is the CNMI's longest serving elected official having served as a congressman, senator, and former mayor of Rota. Manglona served as the third lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands from 1990 to 1994 and as Mayor of Rota from 1998 to 2006.
Douglas Brian Keola Moylan is a Guamanian politician and attorney. He was the ninth and fifteenth Attorney General of Guam, serving from 2003 to 2007 and since 2023, respectively.
Alicia Anne Garrido Limtiaco is a former United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. She was sworn in on June 21, 2010, and served until March 10, 2017. She was previously tenth Attorney General of Guam, serving from January 3, 2007, to June 21, 2010. Limtiaco also ran as a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Guam in the 2018 gubernatorial election as the running mate of senator Frank Aguon Jr, in the Democratic gubernatorial primaries.
Frank Blas Aguon Jr. is a Guamanian politician and army lieutenant. A Democrat, he served in the Legislature of Guam from 1997 to 2007, 2009 to 2011 and from 2013 to 2019. He is a former Vice-Speaker from 2003 to 2005.
John Weisenberger is a Guamanian politician and former attorney general of Guam from 2010 to 2011. He was also the public guardian of Guam.
Leonardo Matias Rapadas, better known as Lenny Rapadas, is a Guamanian lawyer, who served as the U.S. Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands from 2003 to 2010 and as the twelfth Attorney General of Guam from 2011 to 2015.
Same-sex marriage was legalized in the Northern Mariana Islands by the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015, which struck down same-sex marriage bans nationwide. On June 29, Governor Eloy Inos issued a statement hailing the decision as "historic", and said he would work with the Attorney General and local officials to bring the U.S. territory into compliance. Attorney General Edward Manibusan issued a memorandum on June 30 confirming that the territory was bound by the court decision and said that marriage license forms would be changed to include same-sex couples.
The recreational and medicinal use of cannabis in the Northern Mariana Islands has been legal since September 2018. House Bill 20-178 was signed into law by Gov. Ralph Torres, becoming Public Law 20-66. The cannabis legalization bill was introduced as the "Taulamwaar Sensible CNMI Cannabis Act of 2018," named in honor of David Kapileo Peter or Taulamwaar, who advocated cannabis legalization over four years ago. The first dispensary opened to the public on July 16, 2021.
Abortion in the Northern Mariana Islands is illegal. Article I, Section 12 of the Constitution of the Northern Mariana Islands states that "The abortion of the unborn child during the mother's pregnancy is prohibited in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, except as provided by law". No law has been passed legalizing abortion in the Northern Mariana Islands. Instead, Northern Mariana Islands criminal law states that performing an abortion is a crime punishable by up to five years imprisonment.
The Ministry of Justice in Palau is part of the Executive Branch and consists of the following bureaus:
The Office of the Attorney General of the Northern Mariana Islands provides "legal counsel and representation to the...government and its agencies in many issues vital to the people’s interest. These issues include the protection of children from abuse and neglect, preservation of the environment, protecting the Commonwealth’s financial assets, the protection of consumers, and public safety." The office has the following divisions:
The attorney general of American Samoa is the chief law enforcement officer and chief legal advisor to the American Samoa government.
The attorney general of the United States Virgin Islands supervises and directs the Department of Justice. The current attorney general is Gordon C. Rhea. In 1962, the Virgin Islands Department of Law was established as an executive department in the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands pursuant to the Virgin Islands Code. With the passage of Act No. 5265 in 1987, the department was now referred to as the Virgin Islands Department of Justice. Additionally, the passage of Act No. 5265 placed the Bureau of Corrections under the jurisdiction and administration of the Department of Justice—remaining there until October 1, 2009. The department has the following divisions:
Titaua Juventin is an athletics administrator from French Polynesia. She is the president of the Athletics Federation of French Polynesia and represents Tahiti on the Oceania Athletics Association.
The NMI Museum of History and Culture, also known as the NMI Museum, is a museum in Garapan, Saipan hosting exhibitions about the Chamorro and Carolinian people and also displays artifacts, documents, textiles, and photographs from the Spanish, German, Japanese, and American periods in the Northern Mariana Islands. The museum has repatriated a significant number of historic objects from the Marianas that were held nationally and internationally in private collections and by foreign museums, companies, and militaries. More than one million dollars has been invested in its collections. The historical buildings on the grounds have been renovated to preserve them, prevent further deterioration, and safeguard visitors. The museum is located across from Sugar King Park.
The COVID-19 pandemic in the North Mariana Islands is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in March 2020.
The 2022 Northern Mariana gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of the Northern Mariana Islands and the lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands to a four-year term in office. Because no candidate received 50% of the vote in the general election, the two highest-placing candidates advanced to a runoff election on November 25, 2022.
Limtiaco v. Camacho (2007), 549 U.S. 483, is a case of the United States Supreme Court which handled a complex taxation dispute between two Guamanian politicians—Douglas B. Moylan, Guam's first elected Attorney General, and Felix P. Camacho, then-Governor of Guam—involving the proper interpretation of the Guam Organic Act. Guam, an unincorporated territory of the United States, is governed by this Organic Act, a United States federal law passed in 1950; much case law in the territory is based on its interpretation.
