June 12, 2009 — An apparent writ of mandamus filed in federal District Court that seeks to force Gov. John deJongh Jr. to forward the recently completed draft constitution to Washington, D.C., for review and approval brought a scathing reply Friday from Government House, where it was delivered.
“The Convention, if it continues to exist at all, it does so in recess from which it can be recalled only in compliance with law," Jean Greaux Jr., the governor’s communication director, said in a strongly worded statement. "Therefore, it appears that the documents delivered to Government House were, much like the earlier document forwarded on June 1, prepared and forwarded without the benefit of a legal basis or authorization.”
The June 1 reference is to the draft constitution, which deJongh announced Thursday he would not send to President Barack Obama because it did not comply with local or federal law. (See "Governor Says No to Draft Constitution.")
The law governing the convention calls for the governor’s approval of the draft before it is forwarded to Congress and the president.
Greaux said several delegates from the Fifth Constitutional Convention indicated that they did not authorize the president or secretary of the Convention to file any legal action on behalf of the Convention. Greaux said that backed up the governor’s questions about the legality of the most recent document, which was sent to Attorney General Vincent Frazer for review.
A writ of mandamus is normally issued by a superior court and commands a lower body or individual to perform or refrain from performing a particular act obliged by law. It is usually considered an extraordinary measure because it is made without the benefit of full judicial process or before a case has concluded.
The document was a copy of the original and bore the receipt stamp of the federal District Court on St. Croix, according to Greaux. The filing in a federal rather than local court, he said, supported deJongh’s assessment that some of the convention delegates wanted the federal government to clean up the mess they had created.
"Surely we cannot rely on Congress to stop considering health care reform, the financial and economic crisis, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the nomination of the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice to turn their attention to cleaning up the draft sent to them from the Virgin Islands," deJongh said Thursday.
Greaux said that the governor reiterated Thursday’s statement that the drafting of a proper Virgin Islands Constitution should be done in the Virgin Islands, by Virgin Islanders. He said the governor did not understand why the officers of the convention would now be seeking relief or justification for their actions in a non-Virgin Islands court.
Convention President Gerard Luz James II said Thursday he intended to file a Writ of Mandamus in the V.I. Superior Court. It is unknown why it was filed in District Court.
For more on the subject see "Constitutional Conventions: What’s Gone Before."
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