48 U.S.C. § 1821 District Court For the Northern Mariana Islands

• Library: United States Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through P.L. 118-34 (published on www.congress.gov on 12/26/2023), except for [P. L. 118-31]
• Year: 2023
• Citation: 48 U.S.C. § 1821

(a) Establishment; judicial circuit; terms of court

There is established for and within the Northern Mariana Islands a court of record to be known as the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands. The Northern Mariana Islands shall constitute a part of the same judicial circuit of the United States as Guam. Terms of court shall be held on Saipan and at such other places and at such times as the court may designate by rule or order.

(b) Appointment, tenure, removal, compensation, etc., of District Court judge; appointment of United States attorney and United States marshal

(1) The President shall, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint a judge for the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands who shall hold office for the term of ten years and until his successor is chosen and qualified, unless sooner removed by the President for cause. The judge shall receive a salary payable by the United States which shall be at the rate prescribed for judges of the United States district courts.

(2) The Chief Judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit of the United States may assign justices of the High Court of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands or judges of courts of record of the Northern Mariana Islands who are licensed attorneys in good standing or a circuit or district judge of the ninth circuit, including a judge of the District Court of Guam who is appointed by the President or a recalled senior judge of the District Court of Guam or of the District Court of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Chief Justice of the United States may assign any other United States circuit or district judge with the consent of the judge so assigned and of the chief judge of his circuit to serve temporarily as a judge in the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands whenever such an assignment is necessary for the proper dispatch of the business of the court. Such judges shall have all the powers of a judge of the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, including the power to appoint any person to a statutory position, or to designate a depository of funds or a newspaper for publication of legal notices.

(3) The President shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a United States attorney and United States marshal for the Northern Mariana Islands to whose offices the provisions of chapters 35 and 37 of title 28, respectively, shall apply.

(4) If the President appoints a judge for the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands or a United States attorney or a United States marshal for the Northern Mariana Islands who at that time is serving in the same capacity in another district, the appointment shall, without prejudice to a subsequent appointment, be for the unexpired term of such judge or officer.