violation of civil and constitutional rights
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Federal attorneys representing Chief Justice Michael Kruse and the Acting US Secretary of Interior are seeking dismissal of a complaint against the two DOI officials, filed by local resident Steven Jay Pincus Hueter at the federal court in Washington D.C.
The federal...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Local resident Steven Jay Pincus Hueter has taken his alleged violation of civil and constitutional rights due to the territory’s COVID-19 restrictions to the federal court in Washington D.C, while his local case remains pending in the High Court of American Samoa....

![Although the chief justice is an employee of the U.S. Department of the Interior, he acts in a territorial capacity in his role as Chief Justice, and conducts all of his official acts in American Samoa, not in Washington, D.C., the defense says in its latest submission. [SN file photo] Chief Justice F. Michael Kruse](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/kruse_0723_25.jpg?itok=eqDJiXx9)
![Hueter’s complaint at the federal level alleges violation of his civil and constitution rights guaranteed in the constitution based on local COVID-19 restrictions, which prohibited him and others from attending church service from 12mid to 5a.m. [photo: SN file photo of Federal District Court in Washington, D.C.] Federal Courthouse Washington, D.C.](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/fed_ct_washington_dc_1.jpg?itok=awTTc98K)