§1613a Appellate Jurisdiction of District Court; Procedure; Review by United States Court of Appeals for Third Circuit; Rules; Appeals to Appellate Court

Summary

Before a new appellate court named in section 1611(a) is set up, the District Court of the Virgin Islands must hear appeals from local Virgin Islands courts as local law allows. The Virgin Islands legislature cannot stop the District Court from reviewing any decision that involves the U.S. Constitution, U.S. treaties, federal laws (including this chapter), actions by U.S. officers or agencies, or whether a Virgin Islands law, order, or action follows those U.S. rules. Appeals in the District Court are decided by an appellate panel of three judges. Two judges make a quorum. The chief judge leads the panel unless they cannot serve. The chief judge picks the other judges, but at most one can be a judge from a local court. Two judges must agree to decide the main issue in an appeal. The chief judge alone can handle orders and dismissals before the full decision and can dismiss appeals for lack of jurisdiction or for not following procedure. Appeals already pending when the law took effect will be heard by a single judge. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit may hear appeals from the District Court’s final decisions and may create rules for those appeals. Once the appellate court in section 1611(a) exists, new appeals from local courts must go to that appellate court, but the District Court keeps handling appeals already in progress, and those rulings can still be reviewed by the Third Circuit and the Supreme Court.