early November<\/a><\/span>, Mr. Mapp said he was honored to have had the responsibility of renominating the justices.<\/p>\n\u201cI am honored to have this responsibility to renominate these three justices, who I sincerely believe have served the people of the Virgin Islands well; have done the work of the Supreme Court tremendous justice that the court is looked upon with tremendous respect and admiration by the people of the Virgin Islands,\u201d Mr. Mapp said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really believe, as I\u2019ve expressed to each of you, that you have done and worked beyond the call of duty. You make all of us in the Virgin Islands proud and have earned the right to be renominated and to continue to serve the Virgin Islands in your roles and capacities as justices in the Supreme Court,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The three justices are people of faith, with all notably thanking God at the press conference for their roles as supreme court justices. And they thanked family as well, with Justices Hodge and Swan thanking their wives for being patient with them, and Justice Cabret, who is not married, thanking her family for their unwavering support. They also thanked Mr. Mapp for his confidence in their ability.<\/p>\n
And they made it a point to thank former Governor Charles Turnbull, as they were nominated by him. At least two of the justices also noted their role models, with Justice Cabret mentioning three Virgin Islands women that she\u2019d looked up to over the years, including the late Eulalie Rivera, Ann Abramson who is still alive, and celebrated educator and storyteller, the late Delta Dorsh.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been an immense pleasure and privilege to serve the people that I love so much,\u201d Justice Cabret said. \u201cBut I think the people of the Virgin Islands know that they\u2019re first in my heart, and they will always be first in my heart. I keep them in mind when I am serving.\u201d Her sentiments were echoed by justices Hodge and Swan, who themselves noted service to the people as a key part of their dedication.<\/p>\n
Chief Justice Hodge applauded the governor for his intent to nominate two other justices to complete the Supreme Court, stating that it would add fresh perspective and ideas, and \u201cto further increase the efficiency and permit it to speak with greater finality.\u201d \u00a0And he lauded the governor\u2019s leadership relative to court unification.<\/p>\n
Background<\/strong><\/p>\nOn January 29, 2007, the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands officially assumed appellate jurisdiction over all appeals in the Virgin Islands. This action culminated decades of the territory\u2019s attempt to have a fully independent and functional third branch of government, according to Mr. Mapp. On that day the Virgin Islands joined the other fifty states and territories of the U.S. in obtaining an autonomous judicial structure.<\/p>\n
On June 19, 2012, after a review of finished cases, the Third Circuit recommended that appeals from the Virgin Islands Supreme Court go to the U.S. Supreme Court instead of the Third Circuit. In July 2012, former Delegate to Congress Donna M. Christensen introduced a bill to shorten the time from 15 years after the 2007 advent of the Supreme Court for this to take effect, and the bill passed the House of Representatives in November, and the Senate in December 2012. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law on December 29, 2012, and all appeals from Supreme Court decisions from that day forward go to the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Feature Image: From left to right: Justices Ive A. Swan, Maria M. Cabret and Rhys S. Hodge. (Credit: Government House)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. THOMAS — The Committee on Rules and Judiciary on Monday approved and forwarded to the full Senate Governor Kenneth Mapp’s renomination of the three Supreme Court Justices, giving little challenge to the justices’ credibility. If approved during today’s Senate session, which is the last of 2016 and last for the 31st Legislature, the justices […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[191,147],"tags":[6274,6272,6273,6271,6270],"yoast_head":"\n
Renomination Of Supreme Court Justices Forwarded To Full Senate - V.I. Consortium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Find Virgin Islands new, opinion, politics, lifestyle, business and more\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=47658\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ernice Gilbert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=47658\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=47658\",\"name\":\"Renomination Of Supreme Court Justices Forwarded To Full Senate - V.I. Consortium\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-20T10:47:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-20T10:47:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d227a4a2478d096447391f7d05afcb51\"},\"description\":\"Find Virgin Islands new, opinion, politics, lifestyle, business and more\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=47658#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=47658\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=47658#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Renomination Of Supreme Court Justices Forwarded To Full Senate\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/\",\"name\":\"V.I. Consortium\",\"description\":\"Uniting the Caribbean\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d227a4a2478d096447391f7d05afcb51\",\"name\":\"Ernice Gilbert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50e9900b9c4e146fd5fb7b811fb4a06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50e9900b9c4e146fd5fb7b811fb4a06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ernice Gilbert\"},\"description\":\"I wear many hats, I suppose, but the one which fits me best would be journalism, second to that would be radio personality, thirdly singer\/songwriter and down the line. I've been the Editor-In-Chief at my videogames website, Gamesthirst, for over 5 years, writing over 7,000 articles and more than 2 million words. I'm also very passionate about where I live, the United States Virgin Islands, and I'm intent on making it a better place by being resourceful and keeping our leaders honest. VI Consortium was birthed out of said desire, hopefully my efforts bear fruit. Reach me at ernice@viconsortium.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/ernicegilbert.com\/\"],\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Renomination Of Supreme Court Justices Forwarded To Full Senate - V.I. Consortium","description":"Find Virgin Islands new, opinion, politics, lifestyle, business and more","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=47658","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ernice Gilbert","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=47658","url":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=47658","name":"Renomination Of Supreme Court Justices Forwarded To Full Senate - V.I. Consortium","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-12-20T10:47:33+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-20T10:47:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d227a4a2478d096447391f7d05afcb51"},"description":"Find Virgin Islands new, opinion, politics, lifestyle, business and more","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=47658#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=47658"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=47658#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Renomination Of Supreme Court Justices Forwarded To Full Senate"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#website","url":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/","name":"V.I. Consortium","description":"Uniting the Caribbean","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d227a4a2478d096447391f7d05afcb51","name":"Ernice Gilbert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50e9900b9c4e146fd5fb7b811fb4a06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50e9900b9c4e146fd5fb7b811fb4a06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ernice Gilbert"},"description":"I wear many hats, I suppose, but the one which fits me best would be journalism, second to that would be radio personality, thirdly singer\/songwriter and down the line. I've been the Editor-In-Chief at my videogames website, Gamesthirst, for over 5 years, writing over 7,000 articles and more than 2 million words. I'm also very passionate about where I live, the United States Virgin Islands, and I'm intent on making it a better place by being resourceful and keeping our leaders honest. VI Consortium was birthed out of said desire, hopefully my efforts bear fruit. Reach me at ernice@viconsortium.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/ernicegilbert.com\/"],"url":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47658"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}