Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands v. Vincente Flores Kaipat

RYMER, Circuit Judge:

We must decide whether a statute of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) that earmarks civil and criminal fines imposed by the courts for a judicial building fund deprived Vincente Flores Kai-pat of due process of law in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution when he was fined by a judge of the CNMI superior court.

Kaipat was found guilty of various traffic offenses and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment, probation, and a fine. He challenged the fine on the ground that it was used as a source of funding for a new…