2019 US Virgin Islands Code
Title 4 - Judiciary
Chapter 5 - Superior Court
§ 71. Composition

(a) The Superior Court of the Virgin Islands shall consist of not less than six (6) judges learned in the law, one half of whom shall reside in the division of St. Croix and one half of whom shall reside in the division of St. Thomas-St. John and two of whom must be judges of the Family Court Division as provided in section 171(a) of this title. No judge shall actively engage in the practice or conduct of any other profession, occupation, or business nor shall he hold any other public office for which monetary compensation is provided.

(b) The term of office of the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court is three years and commences on August 1, of the applicable year, at 10 a.m. and ends on August 1 at 9:59 a.m. three years after the date of such commencement.

(c) The Presiding Judge is designated from alternating division for each three-year term, in order of seniority, based upon continuous length of service on the Superior Court. The Administrative Office shall maintain a listing of judges, in order of seniority. At the expiration of the term of a presiding judge, the judge in the alternating division with the most seniority is designated as presiding judge. The designations must alternate between division each three years in accordance with subsection (b).

(d) The Clerk of the Superior Court shall certify to the Administrator of Courts no later than three days after the commencement of a new term, the name of the judge commencing a term as Presiding Judge. The Administrator shall thereafter certify to the Chief Justice, the Governor, the President of the Legislature and the President of the Virgin Islands Bar Association, and shall notify the public of the expiration of one presiding judge’s term and the commencement of another’s.

(e) An eligible judge may decline to serve as the Presiding Judge. When a judge declines to serve as the Presiding Judge, the next senior judge in the division in which the eligible judge declined service shall serve as the Presiding Judge.

(f) Whenever the Presiding Judge is, because of illness, disqualification, conflict, recusal, or by any other temporary absence or disability, prevented from actively performing the duties as the Presiding Judge, and those ex-officio duties imposed upon the Presiding Judge by law, or is absent from the court, an available active judge of the Superior Court from the Presiding Judge’s district in order of seniority shall perform all of the duties performed by the Presiding Judge during the latter’s disability or absence from the court.

(g) The Presiding Judge may resign the office of Presiding Judge without resigning from the office of the judge of the Superior Court. If a judge resigns the office of Presiding Judge before the expiration of the three-year term of service or leaves office while serving an uncompleted term as Presiding Judge, the next judge in order of seniority in the division in which the office was held shall fill the vacant office for the remainder of the term. A judge who fills the vacant position is not disqualified from serving a regular term of office as provided in subsection (b).