[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 66 (Tuesday, April 16, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S2761]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                Nomination of Ramona Villagomez Manglona

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm 
Ramona Villagomez Manglona to the U.S. District Court for the Northern 
Mariana Islands.
  Judge Manglona was born in Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands--CNMI. She received a B.A. from the University of 
California at Berkeley in 1990 and a J.D. from the University of New 
Mexico School of Law in 1996. Following her graduation from law school, 
she clerked for Judge Virginia Sablan-Onerheim and Judge Alexandro C. 
Casto, both on the CNMI Superior Court. Judge Manglona then began her 
legal career as assistant attorney general in the criminal division for 
the CNMI Office of the Attorney General. She served in the criminal 
division for 3 years before moving to the civil division in 2001. In 
2002, she was appointed to serve as the attorney general for the CNMI. 
Judge Manglona was appointed to a 6-year term as an associate judge on 
the Superior Court for the CNMI in 2003 and was elected to serve a 
second term in 2009.
  In 2011, Judge Mangona was nominated by President Obama and confirmed 
by the U.S. Senate to serve a 10-year term as the chief judge for the 
U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands. As the sole 
active Federal district judge in the Northern Mariana Islands, she 
performs the work of a chief judge, a magistrate judge, and a 
bankruptcy judge. In her entire judicial career, Judge Manglona has 
presided over 185 cases that have gone to verdict, 35 of which were 
bench and jury trials she presided over as a Federal district court 
judge.
  The American Bar Association unanimously rated Judge Manglona as 
``well qualified,'' and she was unanimously voted out of the Judiciary 
Committee by a vote of 21-0.
  Judge Manglona is a highly experienced jurist who will continue to 
serve with distinction in her second term as a judge for the U.S. 
District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.
  I am proud to support her nomination.