Argument of Speaker
Mr. Speaker: Justice Thomas has the opinion in case 06-116, Limtiaco versus Camacho.
Argument of Justice Thomas
Mr. Thomas: This case comes to us on a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of Guam.
The Guam legislature authorized respondent, the governor of Guam to issue bonds to fund the territory’s continuing obligations.
Petitioner Guam’s Attorney General refused to sign the contracts necessary to issue the bonds because he believed the bonds would violate the debt-limitation provision in Guam’s Organic Act.
Respondent sought a declaration in the Guam Supreme Court that the bond issue would not violate the organic facts debt-limitation and the Guam Supreme Court agreed reasoning that Guam’s debt limit had to be calculated by using the appraised value of property in Guam.
Petitioner initially sought review in the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit but after Congress removed the Ninth Circuit’s jurisdiction over appeals from the courts of Guam, the Court of Appeals dismissed petitioner’s appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
Petitioner then filed a petition for certiorari in this court.
In an opinion filed with the Clerk today we reverse the judgment of the Guam Supreme Court.
We hold that the petition for certiorari in this court was timely filed.
Certiorari petitions must be filed within 90 days of the entry of judgment in the lower court.
Although petitioner filed the petition more than 90 days after the Guam’s Supreme Court’s judgment dependency of theappeal before the Court of Appeals suspended the finality of that judgment.
By agreeing to hear petitioner’s appeal, the Court of Appeals raised the possibility that it might modify the judgment or alter the party’s rights.
Accordingly, the judgment of the Guam Supreme Court did not become final for purposes of this court’s review until the Court of Appeals dismiss the appeal.
As to the merits, Guam’s Organic Act limits the territories allow debt to 10% of the aggregate tax valuation of property in the Guam.
The Guam Supreme Court held that the term “tax valuation” in the Organic Act refers to “appraised valuation” not assessed valuation.
The tax valuation most naturally means the “value to which the tax rate is applied” tax valuation must therefore mean “assess valuation” which is then defined as the “valuation of property for purposes of taxation.”
One would not normally refer to a property’s appraised valuation as its tax valuation.
Appraised valuation is simply market value which may or may not relate to taxation.
It is true that Congress could have made its intent clear or even clearer by using the term assess valuation as it did in the debt-limitation provisions for the Virgin Islands.
But if Congress had intended to refer to actual market or appraised value it could have used any of those terms as well.
We therefore hold that Guam’s debt limit must be calculated using assess valuation not appraised valuation.
Justice Souter has filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part in which Justices Stevens, Ginsburg, and Alito join.
