When the law bends to political power, public confidence in justice breaks. It’s time to strengthen the Virgin Islands’ system of checks and balances by making the Attorney General accountable to the people of the Virgin Islands — not just the governor.
There’s not a week that goes by without me thinking about the fact that Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. fired the previous Attorney General, Denise George, just days after she filed a major federal civil lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase for allegedly enabling Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation in the Virgin Islands. The suit, filed on behalf of the Government of the Virgin Islands, fell squarely within her jurisdiction as Attorney General — the chief legal officer charged with protecting the public interest.
This week, that history came to mind again after the governor’s public relations officer announced at an Oct. 6, 2025 press briefing that the current Attorney General, Gordon Rhea, had issued a legal opinion concluding that The Summer’s End Group (SEG) Coastal Zone Management (CZM) permit “has not expired” and remains valid until all required federal approvals are obtained.
In essence, the opinion contends that because the SEG permit was contingent on receiving federal approvals, the 12-month clock for beginning construction under 12 V.I.C. § 910(d)(7) never began. But that reading stretches the statute. The law says development must start “within twelve months from the date [the] permit is issued.” The contingency language in §910(g) bars construction before federal permits arrive — it doesn’t appear to suspend or erase the one-year deadline. Under §910(d)(7), a permit that sits idle for a year without an extension automatically lapses by operation of law. Once it does, the only legal path forward is a new application and review by the CZM Committee.
As community advocate and Save Coral Bay founder David Silverman noted, the governor’s earlier request that the Legislature “extend” the permit effectively acknowledges that it expired — an admission that contradicts the AG’s new interpretation.
This is more than a technical dispute. It is a reminder of how fragile our checks and balances are. The Attorney General should be empowered to act in the people’s interest and must not be vulnerable to retaliation from the executive branch when their work implicates government officials. An AG who serves primarily at the governor’s pleasure runs the risk of eroding public confidence in the integrity of law enforcement.
In fact, in most jurisdictions across the United States, the Attorney General is elected by the people, not appointed by the governor — a structure designed to safeguard independence and uphold the rule of law. In two other U.S. territories, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, appointed AGs were replaced with elected ones, thereby creating a level of accountability that can curb corruption and abuse of power. With the Sixth Constitutional Convention of the Virgin Islands underway, Virgin Islanders should ask whether it is time to follow suit.
An elected Attorney General could be directly accountable to the public, free to issue opinions and pursue enforcement actions without fear of dismissal. Such a shift would begin to build stronger systems of accountability and trust in government.
Restoring confidence in our institutions begins with ensuring that justice serves the people — and not just those in power.
— Dr. Hadiya Sewer is a strategist, philosopher, and President and Co-Founder of St. JanCo: the St. John Heritage Collective, a founding member of the Virgin Islands Studies Collective, and an Environment and Democracy Cross-Territorial Fellow at Right to Democracy. She was a Research Fellow in African and African American Studies at Stanford University and a Visiting Scholar at Brown University’s Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. A longtime advocate for decolonization, environmental justice and equitable development, she writes on governance, transparency, and the intersection of culture and public policy.
Editor’s Note: Opinion articles do not represent the views of the Virgin Islands Source newsroom and are the sole expressed opinion of the writer. Submissions can be made to visource@gmail.com.
