Taimanao v. Superior Court

DELA CRUZ, Chief Justice:

We are asked to issue a writ prohibiting the Superior Court from asserting jurisdiction over a Rota election contest filed by the real parties in interest (“contestants”). We have jurisdiction to issue extraordinary writs pursuant to our general supervisory powers. 1 CMC § 3102(b); Tenorio v. Superior Ct., 1 N.M.I. 1, 7 (1989). The petitioners contend that the Superior Court lacks jurisdiction to hear this cause because: (1) the court failed to initiate a hearing on the election contest within the fifteen to twenty-day period set forth in 1 CMC § 6424, and (2) the…