Pilar Laguana v. Guam Visitors Bureau Its Board of Directors and Ricardo J. Bordallo

The question presented on this appeal is whether Pilar Laguana, Appellant herein, by virtue of her employment with the Guam Visitors Bureau, is a public employee and, consequently, afforded civil rights protection from patronage dismissals.

Laguana alleges that she was employed by the Bureau and that ten days after Appellee Bordallo was sworn in as Governor of Guam she was discharged for political reasons, in violation of her rights under the United States Constitution, which rights are made applicable to Guam by the Guam Organic Act, 48 U.S.C. § 1421b(a). The District Court determined, and all parties concede, that Laguana is afforded civil rights protection from political patronage dismissal only if she is a public employee. Branti v. Finkel, 445 U.S. 507 , 100 S.Ct. 1287 , 63 L.Ed.2d 574 (1980); Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347 , 96 S.Ct. 2673 , 49 L.Ed.2d 547 (1976). Laguana argues that she ought to be considered a public employee because the Bureau was properly created as an agency or instrumentality of the Government of Guam.

The Bureau, as established by the Governor’s Executive Order 70-24 pursuant to Code authority, is an unusual entity. The Executive Order characterizes it…