Jerick Sablan

jpsablan@guampdn.com

Guam’s attorney general is looking at the options in two ongoing indigenous rights cases.

“Both the plebiscite case and the attack upon the Chamorro Land Trust are resurrecting a new political status debate. This is good because the debate has been too quiet for too long,” Attorney General Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson said in a news release.

Chamorro Land Trust

Barrett-Anderson said she won't sign a consent decree over the Chamorro Land Trust, which is important because the Chamorro culture is rooted in the land.

The Chamorro people were self-sustaining because of the land and the ocean. It’s important the Land Trust exists for people who, in certain circumstances, may not have access to land, she said.

“More than likely they do not have land upon which to raise their children and then to continue the Chamorro culture. I think it’s important,” Barrett-Anderson said.

The U.S. Department of Justice wrote a letter in January to Gov. Eddie Calvo. It stated the Land Trust violates the Fair Housing Act and the Justice Department may sue if the local government doesn’t enter a consent decree. Calvo has said he won't enter another consent decree with the federal government.

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Barrett-Anderson said when she was the attorney general 25 years ago, she signed a consent decree for the Department of Corrections, and she's still dealing with the issue today.

She’s trying to close the consent decrees the government has and doesn’t want to open another one, because the decrees have cost island taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Her office will respond to the Justice Department by the end of the month, informing it the government of Guam won’t enter a consent decree. She expects the Justice Department to file a suit in response, but said she’d rather fight the issue in court.

“Let’s go into court. Let’s argue the issues very clearly and whoever wins, wins. We’ll take it from there,” Barrett-Anderson said.

She acknowledged that defending a local statute against federal law in a federal court is an uphill battle.

Plebiscite law

The AG's office has an April 7 deadline to appeal a recent U.S. District Court of Guam decision on the island’s self-determination plebiscite law.

In a March 8 decision, Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood ruled the plebiscite law imposes race-based restrictions on voting rights of non-native inhabitants, which is against the 15th Amendment.

Related story:

Judge: Plebiscite law unconstitutional; AG may appeal

Arnold "Dave" Davis is a non-Chamorro resident of Guam who applied to vote in the plebiscite. When he was denied, he sued the Guam Election Commission and others in the government in 2011.

Barrett-Anderson said her office is reviewing the 26-page decision to see whether it has the potential to appeal — not only to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, but to the Supreme Court.

“It’s not an easy determination to make,” Barrett-Anderson said.

Two-tier approach

She said the island can take a two-tier approach to the Chamorro Land Trust issue. Local leaders can have a unified voice and speak to Congress about making a federal law that allows Chamorros a land program like other laws its granted for other indigenous peoples.

Related story:

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And since Congress has authority over the territories, it has the power to change law to allow for programs like the Chamorro Land Trust. They’ve already done so for other native peoples from Hawaii and Alaska, she said.

“Congress hasn’t acted for the Chamorro people. We have acted on our own, as best as we possibly can,” she said.

But the local government is coming up against a brick wall that is the federal system and a federal government that says all people must be treated equally, she said.

She said Congress either needs to give the island greater autonomy — either through independence or closer union with the U.S. — or they’ll going to have to keep answering the territory’s call to make changes.