Justices of the Virgin Islands Supreme Court affirmed actions taken by the 34th Legislature when they expelled former Senator-At-Large Steven Payne in July 2022. The opinion was published Friday after the three-judge panel heard oral arguments from lawyers representing both sides of a civil lawsuit challenging the action that led to Payne’s expulsion.
Chief Justice Rhys Hodge wrote the opinion upholding the 34th Legislature and then-Senate President Donna Frett Gregory. Payne was removed from his seat on July 20, 2022, in a 14-to-one vote as the body was weighing the recommendations of an ethics review board. At the time, Payne was charged with verbal sexual harassment of a legislative staff member.
In the 28-page opinion published March 22, the chief justice cited three provisions of the Revised Organic Act. Hodge said that under the speech and debate clause — Section 6(d) — Frett-Gregory was immune from any legal challenge in her capacity as Senate president.
Under Section 6(g), the Legislature was ruled to be the ‘sole judge’ of elections and the qualifications of its members. Justices also cited the Organic Act’s Section 2(b) in rejecting Payne’s claim that he was denied his Legislature salary after the vote to remove him from his seat. Section 2(b) gave the Legislature immunity from tort claims for monetary damages, the ruling said.
A statement appearing at the end of the opinion summed up the findings: “The speech and debate clause of the Revised Organic Act provides absolute immunity to the Senate president, but not to the Legislature as an institution. Moreover, Payne’s claims for money damages are barred pursuant to Section 2(b) of the Revised Organic Act since it cannot sound in contract and the government has not waived its sovereign immunity for a tort claim based on his expulsion.”
The case was brought to the high court by legislative outside counsel Joseph Arellano on Dec. 22, 2023, after a lower court judge ruled that the Legislature violated Payne’s constitutional right to due process with the vote to expel him. Arellano cited Title 4 of the Virgin Islands Code, claiming that the ruling by the lower court violated the separation of powers between the Legislature and the Judicial Branch.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case on Jan. 17. Hodge, along with Associate Justices Maria Cabret and Ive Arlington Swan, heard arguments posed by Arellano and Payne’s attorney, Treston Moore, on March 12.
Chief Legislative Counsel Amos Carty Jr. and Senator Novelle Francis Jr. — president of the 35th Legislature — were present in the courtroom at Crown Bay, St. Thomas, on that day.
