Sunday, February 27, 2005

CMNI v. United States (9th Cir. - February 24, 2005)

I'll admit it. Before I read this case, I knew nothing about the paramountcy doctrine. What's that, you say? The paramountcy doctrine? As we all (now) know, that's the set of legal principles applied to the dominion of the United States over submerged lands off the shores of states that were created from former territories. Oh, yeah. That paramountcy doctrine. I was confusing it with the other paramountcy doctrine. Silly me.

I'll keep you in total suspense about how the paramountcy doctrine is applied by Judge Beezer here to the unique status of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. But here's a hint:

United States: 1. CMNI: 0.