June 19, 2019 โ The US National Marine Fisheries Service has reiterated its argument that, among other things, the Territory of American Samoa โ through ASG โ lacks standing to bring a lawsuit against the federal government, and requested a federal appeals court to reverse a ruling by the Honolulu federal court.
In its initial appeal opening brief in February this year, NMFS argued that the lower court โerredโฆ in holding that ASG has โparens patriaeโ standing to sue the federal government.โ
NMFSโ appeal to the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals stems from the lower courtโs decision last year, in which a federal judge sided with plaintiff ASG, citing the Deeds of Cession (1900 for Tutuila and Aunuโu; and 1904 for Manuโa) invalidating the federal agencyโs final rule in 2016 that reduced the LVPA, which was put in place more than 10 years ago to protect the local โalia fleet.
Besides NMFS, other federal defendants included the US Commerce Department and its top officials.
In its filing last Friday, federal defendants argued that ASG โlacks standingโ to claim that the rule issued by NMFS in 2016 reducing the size of the LVPA must be set aside because it violates the 1900 and 1904 cessions.