Why Is There a Tropical Paradise in the Third Circuit?
A brief judicial history of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
May 13, 2015 at 10:26 AM
8 minute read
The original version of this story was published on New Jersey Law Journal
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit will hear oral arguments this week on the island of St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. A three-judge panel will travel to the islands to hear matters arising from the islands themselves in order to best accommodate the travel burden of arguing counsel. The court hears oral arguments in the U.S. Virgin Islands twice a year, usually once in December, and once in either April or May. Oral arguments are conducted in St. Thomas during even years (e.g., 2014, 2016), and in St. Croix during odd years (e.g., 2013, 2015). The kind and number of cases heard all depends on the docket before the court and the confidential decision-making process of the judges.
Various historians and researchers have attempted to answer the perplexing question of why the U.S. Virgin Islands were assigned to the Third Circuit for appellate review. As the Third Circuit is based in Philadelphia, the question of why it was chosen has baffled historians for years. Judges, librarians and researchers on the matter have concluded that the decision made by Congress in 1917 was simply a spontaneous choice, made without regard for social or economic considerations. Congress's almost 100-year-old decision continues to subject the islands to the judicial precedent of the Third Circuit based in Philadelphia, over 1,600 miles away. This overview attempts to clarify the relationship of the Third Circuit and the islands, the circumstances surrounding that congressional decision and the influence of one Senator Willard Saulsbury Jr.
The Virgin Islands, consisting of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix, were purchased from Denmark in 1917 for a sum of $25 million dollars in gold coins. The United States' interest in the islands came shortly after the German sinking of the British ocean liner Lusitaniaand the resultant fear that Germany would occupy Denmark and make the islands a naval base for its forces. Thus, in 1915, the United States approached Denmark with the proposal of purchasing the islands. However, aware of America's poor civil rights record, Denmark sought assurances that the inhabitants of the islands would receive U.S. citizenship, in addition to local voting rights and free trade. Robert Lansing, then-secretary of state under President Wilson, refused Denmark's request for citizenship for the islands' residents and stated that such promises could only be made by Congress and could not be inserted into a treaty between the two nations. Lansing told the Danes that if the sale was not made, the United States would simply occupy the islands militarily to avoid any possibility of German interference. In pursuit of a peaceful resolution, Denmark agreed to the sale for $25 million, which Danish voters approved in a referendum.
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