The Virgin Islands Bar Association has filed a friend-of-the-court brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider the fixed terms assigned to federal district judges in the territories. Federal law gives judges of the District Court of the Virgin Islands 10-year terms rather than the life tenure generally afforded Article III judges in the states.
The brief was filed in Department of the Air Force v. Prutehi Guahan, a Guam environmental case scheduled for oral argument October 7. The underlying dispute is not a Virgin Islands case, but the Bar says Guam's judicial-term language is nearly identical to the provisions governing the Virgin Islands and Northern Mariana Islands.
The Bar argues that judges exercising federal judicial power should receive constitutional protections from political pressure regardless of where they sit. It is not accusing current or former territorial judges of changing decisions to secure reappointment.
A 2019 Third Circuit decision upheld Congress's authority to use fixed terms for judges of the District Court of the Virgin Islands. The Supreme Court could reject the Bar's argument, resolve the Guam case on other grounds or issue a decision that still requires further litigation or congressional action before anything changes locally.
The V.I. Bar should make its full amicus brief and a plain-language explanation publicly accessible, including the controlling precedent, the relief requested and what steps would remain after any Supreme Court ruling.
Source published September 11, 2026. Read the original reporting or release for the complete record.
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