United States Ninth Circuit

In a dispute concerning ownership rights to land in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands(CNMI), the US acquired paramount interest in the seaward submerged lands found off the shores of CNMI, and the laws passed by the CNMI legislature to the contrary are inconsistent with the paramountcy doctrine and are preempted by federal law.

Appellate Information

• Argued 11/02/2004
• Decided 02/24/2005
• Published 02/24/2005

Judges

• BEEZER, Circuit Judge., Before BEEZER, GRABER, and BYBEE, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• James D. Livingstone, Assistant Attorney General, Saipan, MP, for the plaintiff-counter-claim-defendant/appellant., David C. Shilton, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for the defendant-counter-claimant/appellee.