The American Bar Association voted overwhelmingly at its midyear meeting in Los Angeles last week to endorse congressional action to grant Article III status to the District Court of the Virgin Islands.
This has been a long battle, according to attorney Adriane J. Dudley, who stood at the meeting and cited a Supreme Court ruling that provided precedent for the resolution.
Dudley has been working for several years as a member of the ABA's board of governors, and even before that, to get the resolution passed.
Dudley said she had a lot of help from Judge Stanley Brotman, chief District judge from New Jersey, who introduced the resolution.
The status, if approved by Congress, would grant District Court judges in the territory security of tenure and compensation, according to St. Thomas attorney Tom Bolt.
They might have to be appointed by the president, but once that happened it would be a lifetime appointment, Bolt said.
A bill to give judges here Article III status has been introduced by V.I. Delegate Donna M. Christian-Christensen. If Congress passes it, the District Court here "will be put in the same position as all other federal district courts," Bolt said.
One of Dudley's arguments is equity. Why, she asked, should District Court judges here be any less than full-fledged judges?
Chief District Judge Thomas K. Moore said that he and Judge Raymond L. Finch appreciated the efforts of all involved to get the ABA to endorse Article III status for the Virgin Islands court.
The ABA action in the Virgin Islands matter is important because the 400,000-member organization has a powerful voice in Washington and could influence congressional action on the pending legislation.
It is wonderful, Dudley said. It was a landslide vote.
