A bill to create the district court for the Northern Mariana Islands, implementing article IV of the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America.
PL 95-157 (S.2149), enacted 11/08/1977

PUBLIC LAW 95-157—NOV. 8, 1977 
91 STAT. 1265 
Public Law 95-157 
95th Congress 
An Act 
To create the District Court for the Xorthern Mariana Islands, implementing 
article IV of the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands in Political I'nion with the United States of America. 
Whereas section -iOl of the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of 
the Xorthern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United 
States of America, approved by section 1 of the joint resolution of 
March 24,1976 (Public Law 94^241; 90 Stat. 263), provides that the 
United States will establish a District Court for the Northern 
Mariana Islands: Xow, therefore. 
Be tt enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of A)nerica in Congress assembled, That (a) there is 
hereby 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 sliall be held on Saipan and at such other places and at such times 
as the court may desi<>:nate by rule or order. 
(b) (1) The President shall, by and with the advice and consent of 
the Senate, appoint a jud<>;e for the District Court for the Northern 
Mariana Islands who shall hold office for the term of eight 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 
L'nited 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 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 ajul consent 
of the Senate, a Ignited 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, LTnited States Code, 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 unex-
pired term of such judge or officer. 
Nov. 8, 1977 
[S. 2149] ' 
Northern 
Mariana Islands. 
District Court, 
establishment. 
48 u s e 1694. 
District Court 
Judge, 
appointment and 
term. 
Salary. 
Judges, 
temporary 
assignment. 
United States 
attorney and 
marshal. 
28 u s e 541, 
561. 
91 STAT. 1266 
PUBLIC LAW 95-157—NOV. 8, 1977 
28 u s e 631, 
751. 
48 u s e 481 note. 
28 u s e app. 
Jurisdiction. 
48 u s e 1694a. 
u s e prec. title 1. 
Appellate 
jurisdiction. 
48 u s e 1694b. 
Relationship 
between district 
and local courts. 
48 u s e 1694c. 
(c) The provisions of chaptors 43 and 49 of titio 28, United States 
Code, and the rules lioretofore or hereafter promulgated and made 
effective by the Congress or the Suj)remc Court of the United States 
pursuant to titles 11, IH, 28, United States Code, shall apply to the 
District Court for the Xorthern Mariana Islands and appeals there-
from where appropriate, except as otherwise provided in articles IV 
and V of the covenant provided by the Act of March 24, 1976 (90 
Stat. 263). The terms "attorney for the jjovernment" and "United 
States attorney" as used in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 
(i-ule 54(c)) shall, when applicable to cases arisinff under the laws 
of the Xorthei'ii ^fariaiui Islands, include the attorney freneral of the 
Xorthern Mariana Islands oi- any other pei\son or persons as may be 
authorized by the laws of the Xorthern Marianas to act therein. 
SEC. 2. (a) The District Court for the Xorthern Mariaiui Islands 
shall have the jurisdiction of a disti'ict coui't of the United States, 
except that in all causes arisiu<r undei- the Constitution, ti'eaties, or 
laws of the United States, it shall have jurisdiction rej^ardless of the 
sum or \alue of the matter in controvei'sy. 
(b) The district court shall have ori<rinal jurisdiction in all causes 
in the Xorthern Mariana Islands not described in subsection (a) juris-
diction over which is not vested by the Constitution oi* laws of the 
Xorthern ^Mariana Islands in a court or courts of the Xorthern Mari-
ana Islands. In causes brou<rht in the distiict court solely on the basis 
of this subsection, the district court shall be considered a court of the 
Xorthern Mariana Islands for the purposes of determining the 
requirements of indictment by <i:rand jury or ti'ial by jury. 
SKC. 8. The district court shall have such appellate juiisdiction as 
the Constitution and laws of the Xorthei-n Mariana Islands ))rovide. 
Appeals to the district court shall be heard and determined by an 
appellate division of the couil consisting of thi'ee judges, of whom two 
shall constitute a quorum. The judge appointed for the court by the 
President shall be the presiding judge of the appellate division and 
shall preside therein unless disqiialified or otherwise unable to act. The 
other judges who are to sit in the appellate division at any session 
shall be designated by the ])residing judge from among tlie judges 
assigned to the court from time to time pursuant to subsection 1(b) 
(2) : Provided^ horverer, That only one of them shall be a judge of a 
court of record of the Xorthern Mariana Islands. The concurrence of 
two judges shall be necessary to any decision by the district court on 
the merits of an appeal but the presiding judge alone may make any 
appropriate orders with respect to an appeal prior to the hearing and 
determination thereof on the merits and may dismiss an appeal for 
want of jurisdiction or failure to take or prosecute it in accordance 
with the applicable law or rules of procedure. 
SEC. 4. (a) The relations between the courts established by the Con-
stitution or laws of the United States and the courts of the Xorthern 
Mariana 
Islands 
wdth 
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 
and the courts of the several States in such matters and proceedings, 
except as otherwise provided in article I V of the covenant: 
Provided, 
That for the first fifteen years following the establishment of an appel-
late court of the Xorthern Mariana Islands the United States court 
of appeals for the judicial circuit which includes the Xorthern Mariana 
Islands shall have jurisdiction of appeals from all final decisions of 
the highest court of the Xorthern Mariana Islands from which a deci-
PUBLIC LAW 95-157-.NOV. 8, 1977 
91 STAT. 1267 
sion could be had in all cases involving the Constitution, treaties, or USC prec. title 1. 
laws of the United States, or any authority exercised thereunder, 
unless those cases are i-eviewable in the District Court for the Northern 
Mariana Islands pursuant to section 3 of this Act. 
(b) Those portions of title 28 of the United States Code which 
a[)ply to (luam or the District Court of Guam shall be applicable to 
the Northern Mariana Islands or the District Court for the Northern 
Mariana Islands, respectively, except as otherwise provided in article 
IV of the covenant. The district court established by this Act shall be 
a district court as that term is used in section 3006A of title 18, United 
"'-^ 
States Code. 
SP:G. 5. This Act shall come into force upon its approval or at the Effective date. ; 
tiuie proclaimed by the President for the Constitution of the Northern 4« USC 1694d. 
Mariana Islands to become effective, whichever is the later date. 
SKC. 6. There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be Appropriation 
nccessary to carry out the purposes of this Act. 
^''risr*i^aL 
Approved November 8, 1977. 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 
SENATE REPORT No. 95-475 (Comm. on the Judiciary). 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 123 (1977): 
Oct. 13, considered and passed Senate. 
Oct. 25, considered and passed House.