7 Guam Code Ann. § 6108
Terms Used In 7 Guam Code Ann. § 6108
- Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
(b) In order to provide for the orderly use of Judges or Justices pro tempore such Judge or Justice shall be appointed from among a list
COL03252013 8
7 Guam Code Ann. CIVIL PROCEDURE
CH. 6 JUDICIAL OFFICERS, JUSTICES AND JUDGES
maintained by the Chief Justice of qualified and available persons. To be qualified for appointment, such person shall be qualified as specified in this
§ 6108 of this Chapter. Judges or Justices pro tempore shall not be confirmed by the Legislature.
(c) The compensation of Judges or Justices pro tempore shall be determined by the Chief Justice at the time of their appointment, but shall not exceed the salary scale of Judges of the Superior Court or Justices of the Supreme Court, as the case may be.
(d) The procedure, after appointment, for assigning a Judge or Justice pro tempore and for limiting his or her term shall be the same as for the assignment of a retired Judge or Justice and the limitation of his or her term.
SOURCE: Subsection (a) amended by P.L. 24-135:2. Subsection (a) amended by P.L.
24-139:17. Amended by P.L. 27-31:18. No apparent change from the actual law as it was following the court decision, cited below.
COURT DECISIONS: The Supreme Court, in Pangelinan v. Gutierrez, 2000 Guam
11 (2000); affirmed by the Ninth Circuit as 276 F.3d 534 (1/10/2002), held P.L. 24-
139 not to have existed at all as a public law because it was Apocket vetoed@ by the Governor. Therefore, this section reverts to the way it read in its last amendment, which was P.L. 24-135:2. The main difference is to place the power to appoint both Supreme and Superior Court justices and judges with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
1985 SOURCE: California CCP § 170.8; modified.
1985 COMMENT: Recently, due to vacancies occurring on the bench and temporary absences of other judges, and the disqualification of all judges in one case, several judges pro tempore have been appointed despite the lack of any law authorizing the process. P.L. 12-85 gave the power of such appointment to the Chief Justice, but there has been no Chief Justice, and no amendment to the law, since then. It seems best to place the procedure and requirement for the appointment of judges pro tempore in law so that, when the requirement occurs, persons will be available.
In addition to the California section, this Section provides a method whereby a list of qualified persons can be maintained so that they can be immediately appointed for duty. The whole purpose of judges Apro tem@ is that they be available when no regular judge can serve, either because the regular judge is disqualified or because there is an overload in the cases, as when several judges are off-island at one time. Subsection (c) gives the judges Apro tem@ not more than the salary of a regular judge during the time they serve.
COMMENT: (1993) The Legislative has amended the law on judges pro tempore several times since 1985, with the procedure immediately prior to this Act being similar to what is provided here.