General Information
In the interest of informing the public, the United States District, District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands welcomes media coverage of legal matters coming before the court.
In almost all cases, court hearings are open to the press and public. Access the court’s calendar here. In certain high-profile cases, the court may reserve courtroom seating for the media. Reporters should contact the Court (link sends e-mail) to determine whether reserve seating is available.
Phones and laptops may be brought into the courthouse and courtrooms but still and video photography and audio recording in the courtroom are generally prohibited during court proceedings except for ceremonies and certain events. Media wishing to photograph, video or audio record an event should email their request at least three business days before the event to media@nmid.uscourts.gov. See Local Rule 83.2 found in the court’s General Order 17-00004, page 90, for more information. All electronic devices are screened by court security and any device may be barred if deemed a security risk.
Certain civil and bankruptcy proceedings are available via remote audio access as explained in General Order 25-00003.
If a case is being prosecuted by a U.S. Attorney, that attorney’s office may have a designated public relations contact who can provide up-to-date information.
Links to Pacer Records System
Public Access to Court Electronic Records, or PACER, is the judiciary’s electronic method of providing access to court dockets and to copies of documents filed with the court. You may register for PACER online. There is no registration fee but there is an established user fee to be collected for access to PACER; however, if usage in a quarter is $30 or less, PACER fees are waived. For more information on PACER fees, and circumstances in which PACER use is free, see “PACER Pricing: How fees work.”
Via PACER, you can examine the docket for a particular case, which will provide the names of all parties, the names and contact information for the attorneys of record and an itemization of every document filed in the case by name, filer and date. Case documents are accessible from the docket via hyperlinks.
PACER provides online access to dockets (case information) for a fee of $0.10 per page, though the first $30 of charges per quarter per user are waived. Register here.
The Federal Courts
There are local, state, and federal court systems. They each have completely separate personnel, administration and facilities, but cases may move from one system to another depending on a variety of legal circumstances. We will only be talking about the federal court system in these pages.
The Federal Courts have three main levels: District Courts (the trial court), Circuit Courts which are the first level of appeal, and the Supreme Court of the United States, the final level of appeal in the federal system. There are 94 district courts, 13 circuit courts, and one Supreme Court in the U.S. For more information, visit the Introduction to the Federal Courts page.
U.S. District Courts have jurisdiction to hear nearly all categories of federal cases, including both civil and criminal matters. Two territories of the United States, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, have U.S. District Courts that hear federal cases, including bankruptcy cases. More information about the federal courts is available on the U.S. Courts website.
The District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands courthouse is located in Saipan. The District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands is currently authorized one district judge and one half-time magistrate judge. Active and senior judges hear civil and criminal cases that fall under federal law. Decisions are appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is an appellate court that reviews the procedures and the decisions to make sure that the proceedings were fair and that the proper law was applied correctly in the trial courts within the 15 judicial districts that comprise the Ninth Circuit.
The Office of the Circuit Executive (OCE) was created by statute to provide professional administrative staffing to circuit councils. The OCE provides administrative support to the Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit and its various committees. It also provides direct services to all 64 judicial court units in the circuit.
The District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands courthouse is located in Saipan. The District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands is currently authorized one district judge and one half-time magistrate judge. Active and senior judges hear civil and criminal cases that fall under federal law. Decisions are appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Following a final appellate court ruling, parties to the case can then petition with the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling. At its discretion, and within the certain guidelines established by Congress, the Supreme Court may grant or deny the petition. The court hears a small percentage of cases it is asked to review each year. If the petition to review the ruling is denied, then the appellate court ruling stands.