Attorney Gwen Tauiliili-Langkilde has been appointed by Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga as a District Court Judge and has submitted her nomination to the Senate for confirmation.
The appointment is based on a recommendation by Chief Justice Michael Kruse.
The Chief Justice wrote: “Ms Tauiliili Langkilde has been serving as a District Court judge on a pro tempore basis for the last 7 years. She’s to fill the vacancy created with former District Court Judge Fiti A. Sunia’s appointment by the Secretary of the Interior to the High Court in January 2019.”
According to the Chief Justice, Tauiliili-Langkilde”S appointment will ease the work load on District Court Judge Elvis P. Patea, who as an Acting Associate Justice on the High Court, “continues to also have an active role in the High Court presiding over pending cases originally assigned to Associate Justice Lyle L. Richmond.”
He added that Justice Sunia is conflicted out in many of these cases owing to his previous role as a practicing attorney.
Kruse said counsel Tauiliili-Langkilde was an “exemplary product of our local education system.”
As an ASG scholarship recipient, she pursued her undergraduate studies at the University of Hawaii, at Manoa, where she graduated in 1992 with distinction. In 1996, Ms. Tauiliili-Langkilde returned home as an attorney-at-law, after obtaining her Juris Doctor from the William S. Richardson School of Law and gaining admission to practice law in the courts of Hawaii.
“Upon returning home, Ms. Tauiliili-Langkilde entered government service, where she has had the benefit of an extensive and varied legal career, including a two-year term with the High Court as Law Clerk to the Justices,” Kruse continued. “As one of our senior practitioners and member of the American Samoa Bar Association, Ms. Tauiliili-Langkilde served various bar offices, including as President. She also currently serves on the Chief Justice’s Committee on Bar Admissions.
“I have had the benefit of closely working with Ms. Tauiliili-Lankilde as my former law clerk and observing her as a practicing attorney,” CJ Kruse vouched. “She is very bright and diligent, and she is committed to the law. From my observations of her character and temperament, I am satisfied that Ms. Tauiliili-Langkilde has the personal qualities to serve on a permanent basis as a member of the District Court bench, having ably served the District Court in her pro tempore capacity.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a confirmation hearing for the new judge for next week. Only Senate confirmation is required.
