I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 282 

To amend certain retirement provisions for judges serving in territorial 

district courts, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 12, 2021 

Mr. SAN NICOLAS (for himself, Ms. PLASKETT, and Mr. SABLAN) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend certain retirement provisions for judges serving 

in territorial district courts, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Territorial Judgeship 

5 Retirement Equity Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RETIREMENT FOR JUDGES IN TERRITORIES AND 

7 POSSESSIONS. 

8 (a) JUDGES IN TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS.— 

9 Section 373 of title 28, United States Code, is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking subsection (a) and redesignating 

2 subsection (b) as subsection (a); 

3 (2) in subsection (a), as redesignated by para4 graph (1), by striking ‘‘The age and service require5 ments for retirement under subsection (a) of this 

6 section’’ and inserting ‘‘IN GENERAL—A judge of 

7 the District Court of Guam, the District Court of 

8 the Northern Mariana Islands, or the District Court 

9 of the Virgin Islands who retires from office after 

10 attaining the age and meeting the service require11 ments (whether continuous or otherwise) of this sub12 section shall during the remainder of the judge’s 

13 lifetime receive an annuity equal to the salary the 

14 judge is receiving at the time the judge retires. The 

15 age and service requirements for retirement under 

16 this subsection’’; 

17 (3) by inserting after subsection (a), as redesig18 nated by paragraph (1), the following new sub19 section: 

20 ‘‘(b) SPECIAL RULE FOR RETIREMENT FOR JUDGES

21 IN TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding subsection 

23 (a), a judge of the District Court of Guam, the Dis24 trict Court of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the 

25 District Court of the Virgin Islands, who is not reVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H282.IH H282

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1 appointed following the expiration of the term of of2 fice of such judge, and who retires upon the comple3 tion of such term shall, upon attaining the age of 

4 fifty years and during the remainder of the judge’s 

5 lifetime, receive an annuity equal to the salary the 

6 judge is receiving at the time the judge retires, if— 

7 ‘‘(A) such judge has served a term of ten 

8 years as a judge on a court identified in this 

9 subsection; and 

10 ‘‘(B) such judge advised the President, in 

11 writing, that they are willing to accept re12 appointment as a judge on the court on which 

13 the judge is serving— 

14 ‘‘(i) not earlier than nine months and 

15 not later than six months before the date 

16 that is ten years after the date on which 

17 the judge was appointed to the court on 

18 which the judge is serving; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) not later than sixty days after 

20 each Congress is convened following the 

21 Congress that is in session at the time of 

22 the initial notification required under 

23 clause (i). 

24 A judge or former judge who is receiving an an25 nuity pursuant to this subsection and who 


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1 thereafter accepts compensation for civil office 

2 or employment by the Government of the 

3 United States (other than the performance of 

4 judicial duties pursuant to recall under sub5 section (c)) or in the practice of law represents 

6 (or supervises or directs the representation of) 

7 a client in making any civil claim against the 

8 United States or any agency thereof shall for9 feit all rights to an annuity under this sub10 section for the period in which such compensa11 tion is received or legal representation is under12 taken. 

13 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION DATE.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A judge of the Dis15 trict Court of Guam, the District Court of the 

16 Northern Mariana Islands, or the District 

17 Court of the Virgin Islands, in active service, 

18 shall be subject to the requirements of this sub19 section beginning on January 1, 2019. 

20 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION TO ADVICE REQUIRE21 MENT.—A judge of the District Court of Guam, 

22 the District Court of the Northern Mariana Is23 lands, or the District Court of the Virgin Is24 lands, in active service on January 1, 2019, 


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1 shall be deemed to have met the advice require2 ment under paragraph (1)(B).’’; 

3 (4) in subsection (c)— 

4 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) 

5 by inserting ‘‘REQUIREMENTS FOR SENIOR

6 JUDGE’’; 

7 (B) in paragraph (1)— 

8 (i) by striking ‘‘Any’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘A’’; and 

10 (ii) by striking ‘‘this section may elect 

11 to become a senior judge of the court upon 

12 which he served before retiring.’’ and in13 serting ‘‘subsection (a) or (b), with 15 

14 years or more of judicial service (whether 

15 continuous or otherwise), may elect to be16 come a senior judge of the court upon 

17 which the judge served before retiring. Any 

18 judge or former judge who is receiving an 

19 annuity pursuant to subsection (b), with 

20 less than 15 years of judicial service 

21 (whether continuous or otherwise), may 

22 elect to become a senior judge of the court 

23 upon which the judge served before retir24 ing upon attaining the age of sixty-five 

25 years.’’; 


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1 (C) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘he’’ and 

2 inserting ‘‘the judge’’; 

3 (D) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘he’’ and 

4 inserting ‘‘the senior judge’’; 

5 (E) in paragraph (4)— 

6 (i) by striking ‘‘Any’’ and inserting 

7 ‘‘A’’; and 

8 (ii) by striking ‘‘subsection (a) of this 

9 section’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (a) or 

10 (b)’’; and 

11 (F) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘Any’’ 

12 and inserting ‘‘A’’; 

13 (5) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘Any’’ and in14 serting ‘‘EMPLOYMENT OF SENIOR JUDGE—A’’; 

15 (6) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘Service’’ and 

16 inserting ‘‘COMPUTATION OF AGGREGATE JUDICIAL

17 SERVICE—Service’’; 

18 (7) in subsection (e)— 

19 (A) by striking ‘‘Any’’ and inserting 

20 ‘‘MENTAL OR PHYSICAL DISABILITY—A’’; 

21 (B) by striking ‘‘who is removed by the 

22 President of the United States’’ and inserting 

23 ‘‘who has served at least five years (whether 

24 continuous or otherwise) and who retires or is 

25 removed from office’’; 


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1 (C) by striking ‘‘or who is not reappointed 

2 (as judge of such court),’’; 

3 (D) by striking ‘‘, upon attaining the age 

4 of sixty-five years or upon relinquishing office if 

5 he is then beyond the age of sixty-five years, (1) 

6 if his judicial service, continuous or otherwise, 

7 aggregates fifteen years or more, to receive dur8 ing the remainder of his life an annuity equal 

9 to the salary he received when he left office, or 

10 (2) if his judicial service, continuous or other11 wise, aggregated less than fifteen years but not 

12 less than ten years,’’; 

13 (E) by striking ‘‘his life an annuity equal 

14 to that proportion of such salary which the ag15 gregate number of his years of his judicial serv16 ice bears to fifteen.’’ and inserting ‘‘the judge’s 

17 lifetime—’’; and 

18 (F) by adding at the end the following new 

19 paragraphs: 

20 ‘‘(1) an annuity equal to 50 percent of the sal21 ary payable to a judge on a court identified in this 

22 subsection in regular active service, if before retire23 ment or removal such judge served less than 10 

24 years; or 


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1 ‘‘(2) an annuity equal to the salary payable to 

2 a judge on a court identified in this subsection in 

3 regular active service, if before retirement or re4 moval such judge served at least 10 years.’’; and 

5 (8) in subsection (g)— 

6 (A) by striking ‘‘Any retired judge’’ and 

7 inserting ‘‘COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT—A 

8 retired judge’’; 

9 (B) by striking ‘‘under subsection (a)’’ and 

10 inserting ‘‘under subsection (a) or (b), with at 

11 least 15 years of judicial service (whether con12 tinuous or otherwise), or is entitled to receive 

13 an annuity under subsection (e)’’; 

14 (C) by striking ‘‘him’’ and inserting ‘‘such 

15 judge’’; and 

16 (D) by striking ‘‘95’’ and inserting ‘‘100’’. 

17 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

18 this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 

19 of this Act. 

Æ 


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