A group calling themselves Citizens for the Rule of Law in American Samoa have organized a campaign to get members of the public to contact their House Representatives and Senators to call on Governor Lolo Moliga to bring an end to the restrictions he’s imposed in the territory under the COVID-19 public health emergency declarations.
And if the Fono fails to take action, says the group , the only option left is to take legal action against the governor to stop him from ignoring and violating their constitutional rights and privileges.
The group contends that while the governor is given authority to issue public health emergencies like the Coronavirus pandemic, that authority exists only under and within certain well defined boundaries, circumstances and conditions.
And as far as the current pandemic, they believe circumstances are such that no imminent danger exists to warrant the restrictions that the governor has imposed on the people of American Samoa.
The group also takes the position that provisions of the American Samoa Code Annotated “do not and cannot give any governor the legal authority or power to override, cancel or otherwise suspend any of the provisions or statutes found in the Revised Constitution of American Samoa as the constitution is the supreme law of the land and explicitly states that executive regulations shall not..conflict with laws of the United States applicable to American Samoa, laws of American Samoa or with this constitution.”
The group also claims that any declarations made after April 10 that a state of disaster emergency exists in the territory were made without any legal justification whatsoever and are therefore unlawful.
The group maintains that ASCA Titles 13 and 26 which the governor cites in the emergency declarations provide that a disaster must have either “already occurred” or “be imminent.” But with the instant coronavirus pandemic, the elements of imminent or already occurring are absent.
The group says it was still possible that asymptomatic carriers of coronavirus may have been present in the territory and it was reasonable to believe at that timne of the first emergency declaration in March there was an imminent threat in American Samoa.
However the last flight from Hawaii landed on March 26 which according to the group is the last date an asymptomatic carrier could have arrived here.
But after 14 days after that last Hawaiian Air flight, the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic in American Samoa had passed , and it was therefore no longer reasonable to believe that a threat was imminent.
The group says the governor therefore didn’t have a legal justification to continue the subsequent emergency declarations.
It also points out that under ASCA Title 26 the Fono has the authority to terminate a state of declared disaster emergency at any time after which the governor must declare that the state of disaster emergency has ended.
Thus their move to get residents to call on their House Representatives and Senators to end the state of disaster emergency.
“This will mean an end to the unconstitutional Code Blue restrictions imposed by the governor on the citizens and people of American Samoa,” said the group.
According to Citizens United for the Rule of Law in American Samoa if the Fono fails to do its duty to uphold the rule of law in American Samoa then the only option left is to take legal action against Governor Lolo Moliga.
