Office of the Attorney General, Saipan – The 38th Annual Attorney General’s Cup Speech Competition will be held on Friday, May 2, 2025 at 9:00am at the Guma Hustisia Supreme Court.
Attorney General Edward Manibusan, along with this year’s Steering Committee are proud to announce that this year there are seven high schools participating and they include: Mount Carmel School, Tinian Jr./Sr. High School, Kagman High School, Grace Christian Academy, Saipan Southern High School, Marianas High School, and Rota Jr./Sr. High School.
The topic for the 38th annual speech competition is on Birthright Citizenship. The United States Supreme Court in the landmark case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898), held that the Fourteenth Amendment “affirms the ancient and fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the territory, in the allegiance and under the protection of the country, including all children born here of resident aliens” are United States citizens. With some exceptions for foreign dignitaries, those born on foreign public ships, and those born to enemies during a hostile occupation of the territory, those born on United States soil are American citizens. This is known as birthright citizenship.
The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, in approving and signing the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America gained American citizenship under section 301 through 304. Presently, “[a]ll persons born in the Commonwealth on or after [November 4, 1986] and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States will be citizens of the United States at birth.”
The birthright citizenship guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment and Section 303 of the Covenant are currently being debated in the CNMI and in the United States.
Attorney General Manibusan welcomes the public to attend the event and support the students of the CNMI.
The Steering Committee encourages the public to arrive early to go through screening at the entrance. We would like to remind everyone to avoid bringing prohibited items to Guma Hustisia to avoid unnecessary delay. Such prohibited items include: firearms, knives, pressurized sprays, weapons-explosives, sharp objects, tools of the trade, illegal drugs and tobacco, disabling chemicals, etc.
For more information on the 38th Attorney General’s Cup, please contact Ms. Andrea M. Kaipat at the Office of the Attorney General at 670-237-7500/7600 or through email at andrea_kaipat@cnmioag.org.