Former Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CMNI) representative Andrew Salas sued for the reversal of the cockfighting ban in the CNMI, citing that cockfighting is an important cultural and political activity throughout the islands. However, the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has affirmed the ban.
US Circuit Judge Lucy Koh wrote in the ruling, “Congress is not precluded from passing legislation affecting the internal affairs of the CNMI. Rather, a court must ‘balance the federal interest to be served by the legislation at issue against the degree of intrusion into the internal affairs of the CNMI’.”
According to Koh, the federal government’s interests in animal welfare and controlling the spread of avian flu outweigh any degree of intrusion into the territory’s internal affairs. She also added that the 1966 Animal Welfare Act was amended in 1976 to ban interstate commerce involving animal fights.
Cockfighting had already been banned in all states by 2008 and in 2018, the Agriculture Improvement Act prohibited all forms of cockfighting throughout the 50 states and US territories. Salas said that the act targeted territories, leading him to sue the court.
However, a federal judge dismissed the case in November 2022, finding that concern for animal welfare did not intrude on internal affairs in the commonwealth. Salas then appealed to the Ninth Circuit.
“The court’s ruling is obviously a disappointment, but here in the CNMI we’ve known for a long time that the defense of our right to self-government is a long, rough road, so in that sense, it isn’t really a surprise,” Salas’ attorney Joseph Horey said.
US Circuit Judge Richard Paes was concerned about the Commonwealth’s self-governance and ultimately concurred with the other judges that the ban on cockfighting does not intrude on the internal affairs of the territory.
He disagreed with the application of the covenant used in the ruling, citing that by using a different section in the ruling, it allowed some of the legislation to “escape the reach of” a section of the covenant that determines the applicability of laws enacted after 9 January 1978.
In this case, Paez said he would interpret any ambiguity in the covenant “in favor of the CNMI and its people,” and “ensure that its provisions “reach all federal ‘legislation,’ including subsequent amendments to laws in existence on January 9, 1978” which would further protect the right to self-governance.
Paez wrote, “To close, when the United States and the people of the Northern Mariana Islands came together to ratify the covenant, they enshrined in that document the CNMI’s fundamental right to self-government. We are faced here with the question of just how committed we are to upholding that promise.”
Horey added, “Although Judge Paez’s concurrence also came to the wrong conclusion in the end, his analysis is thorough and well-reasoned most of the way, and it encourages us to consider seeking en banc review.”
Salas also argued that the Animal Welfare Act should have also exempted Guam, another US territory, from the cockfighting ban. But Koh disagreed that the law did not apply to Guam as it is a US territory that falls under the definition of a “state.”
Koh wrote, “A statute that references the United States and its territories and possessions is a strong indication that it is meant to apply in the CNMI.”
Koh added that past percent had already established that the ban was also legal in Guam.
