A person of Northern Marianas descent is a person who is a citizen or national of the United States and who has at least some degree of Northern Marianas Chamorro or Northern Marianas Carolinian blood or a combination thereof. For purposes of determining Northern Marianas descent by adoption, a child without any degree of Northern Marianas descent when adopted while under the age of eighteen by a person of Northern Marianas descent shall not acquire any degree of Northern Marianas descent. For purposes of determining Northern Marianas descent, a person shall be considered to be a full-blooded Northern Marianas Chamorro or Northern Marianas Carolinian if that person was born or domiciled in the Northern Mariana Islands by 1950 and was a citizen of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands before the termination of the Trusteeship with respect to the Commonwealth.
(a) Any person who has less than one quarter Northern Marianas Chamorro or Northern Marianas Carolinian blood or a combination thereof, claiming to be a person of Northern Marianas descent shall provide evidence to support that he/she possess some degree of Northern Marianas Chamorro or Northern Marianas Carolinian blood or a combination thereof to the Superior Court. Based on the evidentiary standard of “preponderance of the evidence”, the Superior Court may grant or deny such claim, and the decision of the Superior Court on such claim shall be subject to a “de novo” judicial review. However, if the Superior Court finds and agrees that the person in fact possesses at least some degree of Northern Marianas Chamorro or Northern Marianas Carolinian blood or a combination thereof, the Superior Court shall certify that the person is a person of Northern Marianas descent.