District Court of Guam

The District Court of Guam^[1] (in case citations, D. Guam) is a United States territorial court with jurisdiction over the United States territory of Guam. It sits in the capital, Hagåtña. Appeals of the court's decisions are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. It is not an Article III court, and therefore its judges do not have life tenure, but are appointed to ten-year terms.^[2]

District Court of Guam Fanhusgayan Destriton Guåhån (Chamorro)
(D. Guam)
Location	United States Courthouse (Hagåtña, Guam)
Appeals to	Ninth Circuit
Established	1950
Authority	Article IV tribunal
Created by	Guam Organic Act of 1950 48 U.S.C. §§ 1424–1424c
Composition method	Presidential nomination with Senate advice and consent
Judges	1
Judge term length	10 years (and until successor is chosen and qualified)
Chief Judge	Frances Tydingco-Gatewood
Officers of the court
U.S. Attorney	Shawn N. Anderson
U.S. Marshal	Fernando L. G. Sablan
www.gud.uscourts.gov

History

Courthouse in Hagåtña

The District Court of Guam was established in 1950 by the Guam Organic Act to have the same jurisdiction as a United States district court.^[1] Under Section 22(a) of the Guam Organic Act, the Court was granted:

• in all causes arising under the laws of the United States, the jurisdiction of a district court of the United States as such court is defined in section 451 of title 28, United States Code;
• original jurisdiction in all other causes in Guam, jurisdiction over which has not been transferred by the legislature to other court or courts established by it, and;
• such appellate jurisdiction as the legislature may determine.

In 1951, the Guam Legislature created Commissioners' Courts, the Police Court, and the Island Court, decisions from which were appealable to the District Court. In 1974, the Legislature consolidated these courts into the Guam Superior Court. The legislature also created a Guam Supreme Court to hear appeals from the Superior Court. However, the Ninth Circuit found in 1976 that the appellate jurisdiction of the District Court could not be transferred without authorization by Congress, and the Supreme Court of the United States upheld this ruling in a 5–4 decision in 1977. Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote the dissenting opinion, in which he argued that Congress had plainly authorized the enactment of the challenged legislation.^[3] Further legislation divested the District Court's appellate jurisdiction over local matters in 1994.^[4]

The District Court was housed in the Guam Congress Building from 1950 to 1968, in the Courthouse of Guam from 1968 to 1978, in the Pacific News Building from 1978 to 2000, and since then in the United States Courthouse Building.^[4]

Current judge

As of August 8, 2006^[update]:

#	Title	Judge	Duty station	Born	Term of service			Appointed by
					Active	Chief	Senior
6	Chief Judge	Frances Tydingco-Gatewood	Hagåtña	1958	2006–present	2006–present	—	G.W. Bush

Vacancy and pending nomination

Seat	Prior judge's duty station	Seat last held by	Vacancy reason	Date of vacancy	Nominee	Date of nomination
1	Hagåtña	Frances Tydingco-Gatewood	Term expired	October 30, 2016	–	–

Former judges

#	Judge	State	Born–died	Active service	Chief Judge	Senior status	Appointed by	Reason for termination
1	Paul D. Shriver	GU	—	1951–1959	1951–1959	—	Truman
2	Eugene R. Gilmartin	GU	—	1959–1961	1959–1961	—	Eisenhower
3	Paul D. Shriver	GU	—	1961–1969	1961–1969	—	Kennedy
4	Cristobal C. Duenas	GU	—	1969–1991	1969–1991	—	Nixon	Resignation
5	John S. Unpingco	GU	1950–2023	1992–2004	1992–2004	—	G.H.W. Bush	Expiration of term

See also

• Courts of the United States
• List of current United States district judges
• List of United States federal courthouses in Guam
• Politics of Guam
• Supreme Court of Guam
• United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands
• District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands