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Pago Pago -- Tuesday, Congresswoman Aumua Amata welcomed $391,947 in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to the American Samoa Criminal Justice Planning Agency.
BJA, a component of the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), helps to make American communities safer by strengthening the nation's criminal justice system through grants, training, technical assistance, and policy development services.
Pago Pago – Friday, Congresswoman Aumua Amata released the following statement upon the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg:
Washington, D.C. – Sunday, Congresswoman Aumua Amata welcomed the news that Judge Faauuga Toʻotoʻo has been retained to another ten-year term as Judge on the Circuit Court of the First Circuit in Hawai’i.
“Congratulations to Judge Faauuga Toʻotoʻo on this prestigious position and important responsibility,” said Aumua Amata. “He is one of our own from Nuuuli. He is highly qualified and experienced, and his retention is the right decision. I know he will continue doing a great job, and being a credit to American Samoa.”
Washington, D.C. – Tuesday, Congresswoman Aumua Amata confirmed that she and the Governor of American Samoa have filed an appellate brief to the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in the Fitisemanu case alongside the U.S. Department of State, appealing the District Court decision of Judge Waddoups in Utah. The December ruling, which would impose blanket citizenship, thereby upsetting the political process of self-determination, elevated longstanding concerns about the impact on the islands’ traditional culture and heritage — Fa’a Samoa, the Samoan way.
Washington, D.C. –Friday, Congresswoman Aumua Amata, received an announcement that the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) has awarded a grant totaling $61,740 to American Samoa Legal Aid (ASLA) for the purpose of expanding local access to legal services.
Washington D.C. –Monday, Congresswoman Aumua Amata, issued the following statement after the United States Supreme Court denied the appeal to hear the Tuaua Case, which had been ruled down in District Court last year.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has announced that it will not consider further, an appeal by lawyers in the Tuaua case, in which a small group of Samoans residing in American Samoa and on the U.S. Mainland together, sought to have U.S. citizenship as a right of birth in American Samoa.
Washington, D.C. –Sunday, Congresswoman Aumua Amata, issued the following statement on Sunday regarding the sudden passing of United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Aumua Amata with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia at a Federalist Society luncheon last year