VI Supreme Court

Friday marked an important day here in the VI. In a special session, the local senate confirmed the three judges who had been nominated to the VI Supreme Court by Governor Turnbull in July. Right now the VI is the only US jurisdiction without its own appellate court. Congress authorized the VI to create their own appellate court system many years ago (maybe 25?) but it's only recently gained momentum. Currently, the federal district court serves as the territorial court's appellate court. Now that there are VI supreme court justices, all they need is some funding and maybe a building to have court in. The big dispute is regarding which island the court should sit on - St. Thomas or St. Croix. The capital is on St. Thomas, but many people believe St. Croix is better suited as there is more land available for a nice court building and the economy on St. Croix could use the boost. Once the court gets started, I think the district court keeps all the old appeals. The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit will continue to have appellate jurisdiction over the VI supreme Court for 15 years, according to the VI Daily News article.