Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands v. Vincente Flores Kaipat

We must decide whether a statute of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) that earmarks civil and criminal fines imposed by the courts for a judicial building fund deprived Vincente Flores Kai-pat of due process of law in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution when he was fined by a judge of the CNMI superior court.

Kaipat was found guilty of various traffic offenses and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment, probation, and a fine. He challenged the fine on the ground that it was used as a source of funding for a new judicial complex pursuant to the Judicial Building Fund Act of 1990, 1 CMC § 3405, thereby creating an improper incentive for the court to levy fines and calling into question the impartiality of the trial judge in violation of Kaipat’s right to due process. The CNMI Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s denial of Kaipat’s motion to reconsider the fine in a published opinion. Commonwealth v. Kaipat, No. 94-041 (CNMI Sup.Ct. Aug. 3, 1995).

We have not previously considered the due process implications of a statute earmarking funds that are generated by fines imposed by courts for criminal offenses, but the…