[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2011 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2011

To establish the District Court of the Virgin Islands as a court under 
             article III of the United States Constitution.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 7, 1999

 Mrs. Christensen introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                     the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To establish the District Court of the Virgin Islands as a court under 
             article III of the United States Constitution.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Judicial District of the Virgin 
Islands Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF DISTRICT COURT OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS AS AN 
              ARTICLE III COURT.

    (a) Establishment.--
            (1) In general.--Chapter 5 of title 28, United States Code, 
        is amended by inserting after section 126 the following new 
        section:
``Sec. 126A. Virgin Islands
    ``The Virgin Islands constitutes one judicial district comprising 
two divisions.
            ``(1) The Saint Croix Division comprises the Island of 
                Saint Croix and adjacent islands and cays.
            ``Court for the Saint Croix Division shall be held at 
                Christiansted.
            ``(2) The Saint Thomas and Saint John Division comprises 
                the Islands of Saint Thomas and Saint John and adjacent 
                islands and cays.
            ``Court for the Saint Thomas and Saint John Division shall 
                be held at Charlotte-Amalie.''.
            (2) Conforming amendment.--The table of contents for 
        chapter 5 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by 
        inserting after the item relating to section 126 the following:

``126A. Virgin Islands.''.
            (3) Number of judges.--The table contained in section 
        133(a) of title 28, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
        after the item relating to Vermont the following:

``Virgin Islands...............................................    2''.
    (b) Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands.--
            (1) Repeals.--Sections 25, 26, and 27 of the Revised 
        Organic Act of the Virgin Islands (48 U.S.C. 1615, 1616, and 
        1617) are repealed.
            (2) Bill of rights.--Section 3 of the Revised Organic Act 
        of the Virgin Islands (48 U.S.C. 1561) is amended in the 23d 
        undesignated paragraph--
                    (A) by inserting ``article III;'' after ``section 
                9, clauses 2 and 3;''; and
                    (B) by striking ``: Provided, however'' and all 
                that follows through the end of the paragraph and 
                inserting the following: ``; except that all offenses 
                under the laws of the Virgin Islands which are 
                prosecuted in the courts established by local law shall 
                continue to be prosecuted by information, except those 
                that are required by local law to be prosecuted by 
                indictment by grand jury.''.
            (3) Jurisdiction of local courts.--Section 21 of the 
        Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands (48 U.S.C. 1611) is 
        amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 21. JURISDICTION OF COURTS OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS.

    ``(a) Jurisdiction of the Courts of the Virgin Islands.--The 
judicial power of the Virgin Islands shall be vested in such trial or 
appellate courts as may have been or may hereafter be established by 
local law. The local courts of the Virgin Islands shall have 
jurisdiction over all causes of action in the Virgin Islands over which 
any court established by the Constitution and laws of the United States 
does not have exclusive jurisdiction.
    ``(b) Practice and Procedure.--The rules governing the practice and 
procedure of the courts established by local law and those prescribing 
the qualifications and duties of the judges and officers thereof, oaths 
and bonds, and the times and places of holding court shall be governed 
by local law or the rules promulgated by those courts.''.
            (4) Jurisdiction over criminal matters and income tax.--
        Section 22 of the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands (48 
        U.S.C. 1612) is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 22. JURISDICTION OVER CRIMINAL MATTERS AND INCOME TAX.

    ``(a) Jurisdiction Over Criminal Matters.--Nothing in this title 
shall be contrued to remove or impair the jurisdiction of the courts of 
the Virgin Islands under the laws thereof.
    ``(b) Jurisdiction Over Income Tax Matters.--The United States 
District Court for the District of the Virgin Islands shall have 
exclusive jurisdiction over all criminal and civil proceedings in the 
Virgin Islands with respect to the income tax laws applicable to the 
Virgin Islands, regardless of the degree of the offense or of the 
amount involved, except the ancillary laws relating to the income tax 
enacted by the legislature of the Virgin Islands. Any act or failure to 
act with respect to the income tax laws applicable to the Virgin 
Islands which would constitute a criminal offense described in chapter 
75 of subtitle F of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall constitute 
an offense against the government of the Virgin Islands and may be 
prosecuted in the name of the government of the Virgin Islands by 
appropriate officers thereof in the United States District Court for 
the District of the Virgin Islands without the request or consent of 
the United States attorney for the Virgin Islands.''.
            (5) Relations between united states courts and local 
        courts.--Section 23 of the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin 
        Islands (48 U.S.C. 1613) is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 23. RELATIONS BETWEEN COURTS OF THE UNITED STATES AND LOCAL 
              COURTS.

    ``(a) In General.--The relations between the courts established by 
the Constitution or laws of the United States (including the United 
States District Court for the District of the Virgin Islands) and the 
courts established by local law with respect to appeals, certiorari, 
removal of causes, the issuance of writs of habeas corpus, and other 
matters or proceedings shall be governed by the laws of the United 
States pertaining to the relations between the courts of the United 
States, including the Supreme Court of the United States, and the 
courts of the several States in such matters and proceedings, except 
that for the first 15 years following the establishment of the 
appellate court authorized by section 21(a) of this Act, the United 
States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit shall have jurisdiction 
to review by writ of certiorari all final decisions of the highest 
court of the Virgin Islands from which a decision could be had.
    ``(b) Reports to Congress.--The Judicial Council of the Third 
Circuit shall submit reports to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Resources of the House of 
Representatives at intervals of 5 years following the establishment of 
the appellate court authorized by section 21(a) of this Act as to 
whether that court has developed sufficient institutional traditions to 
justify direct review by the Supreme Court of the United States from 
all final decisions of the highest court of the Virgin Islands.
    ``(c) Rules.--The United States Court of Appeals for the Third 
Circuit shall have jurisdiction to promulgate rules necessary to carry 
out the provisions of this section.''.
            (6) Appellate jurisdiction of district court.--Section 23A 
        of the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands (48 U.S.C. 
        1613a) is amended by striking ``District Court of the Virgin 
        Islands'' each place it appears and inserting ``United States 
        District Court for the District of the Virgin Islands''.
            (7) Assignment of additional judges to the court.--Section 
        24 of the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands (48 U.S.C. 
        1613) is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 24. ASSIGNMENT OF ADDITIONAL JUDGES TO THE COURT.

    ``Whenever it appears to be necessary for the proper dispatch of 
the business of the United States District Court for the District of 
the Virgin Islands--
            ``(1) the chief judge of the Third Judicial Circuit of the 
        United States may assign--
                    ``(A) a judge of a court of record of the Virgin 
                Islands established by local law,
                    ``(B) a circuit or district judge of the Third 
                Judicial Circuit, or
                    ``(C) a recalled senior judge of the District Court 
                of the Virgin Islands, or
            ``(2) the Chief Justice of the United States may assign any 
        other United States circuit or district judge, with the consent 
        of that judge and the chief judge of the circuit from which the 
        judge is assigned,
to serve temporarily as a judge of the United States District Court for 
the District of the Virgin Islands. After the establishment of the 
appellate court authorized by section 21(a) of this Act, no judge 
described in paragraph (1)(A) may be assigned to the district court 
under this section.''.
    (c) Pleadings and Proceedings in English.--All pleadings and 
proceedings in the United States District Court for the District of the 
Virgin Islands shall be conducted in the English language.
    (d) Savings Provisions.--
            (1) Pending cases.--With respect to any complaint or 
        proceeding pending in the District Court of the Virgin Islands 
        on the day before the effective date of this Act, such 
complaint or proceeding may, on and after such effective date, be 
pursued to final determination in the United States District Court for 
the District of the Virgin Islands, the United States Court of Appeals 
for the Third Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.
            (2) Existing officers of the court.--Any individual who, on 
        the effective date of this Act, is serving as the United States 
        Attorney for the Virgin Islands, or the United States marshal 
        for the Virgin Islands, may continue in such office until a 
        successor is appointed pursuant to the provisions of title 28, 
        United States Code.

SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Retirement and Survivors' Annuities.--
            (1) Retirement.--Section 373 of title 28, United States 
        Code, is amended in subsections (a) and (e) by striking ``, the 
        District Court of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the District 
        Court of the Virgin Islands'' and inserting ``or the District 
        Court of the Northern Mariana Islands''.
            (2) Survivors' annuities.--Section 376(a) of title 28, 
        United States Code, is amended in paragraphs (1)(B) and (2)(B) 
        by inserting ``(as in effect before the effective date of the 
        Judicial District of the Virgin Islands Act of 1999)'' after 
        ``the District Court of the Virgin Islands''.
            (3) Calculation of service as a judge.--In the case of a 
        judge of a district court retiring under section 371 of title 
        28, United States Code, service by the judge as a judge of the 
        District Court of the Virgin Islands before the effective date 
        of this Act shall be included in calculating service under 
        section 371(c) of such title.
            (4) Rights of existing retirees not affected.--Nothing in 
        this Act shall be construed to affect the rights of any judge 
        who has retired as a judge of the District Court of the Virgin 
        Islands before the effective date of this Act.
    (b) Courts Defined.--Section 610 of title 28, United States Code, 
is amended by striking ``the District Court of the Virgin Islands,''.
    (c) Magistrate Judges.--Section 631(a) of title 28, United States 
Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and the district court of the Virgin 
        Islands''; and
            (2) by striking the second sentence.
    (d) Investigations by Attorney General.--Section 526(a)(2) of title 
28, United States Code, is amended by striking ``and of the district 
court of the Virgin Islands''.
    (e) Courts of Appeals.--Section 1291 of title 28, United States 
Code, is amended by striking ``, the United States District Court for 
the District of the Canal Zone,'' and all that follows through ``Virgin 
Islands'' and inserting ``and the District Court of Guam.''.
    (f) Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.--Section 1295(a) of 
title 28, United States Code, is amended in paragraphs (1) and (2) by 
striking ``the United States District Court for the District of the 
Canal Zone'' and all that follows through ``Virgin Islands,'' and 
inserting ``the District Court of Guam,''.
    (g) Federal Tort Claims.--Section 1346(b) of title 28, United 
States Code, is amended by striking ``, together with'' and all that 
follows through ``Virgin Islands,''.
    (h) Court Reporters.--Section 753(a) of title 28, United States 
Code, is amended in the first paragraph by striking ``, the United 
States District Court for the District of the Canal Zone'' and all that 
follows through ``Virgin Islands'' and inserting ``and the District 
Court of Guam''.
    (i) Representation of Certain Defendants.--Section 3006A(j) of 
title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking ``the District 
Court of the Virgin Islands,''.

SEC. 4. ADDITIONAL REFERENCES.

    Any reference in any provision of law to the District Court of the 
Virgin Islands shall, after the effective date of this Act, be deemed 
to be a reference to the United States District Court for the District 
of the Virgin Islands.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect at 
the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
                                 <all>