48 U.S.C. § 1617
Section 1617 · United States attorney; appointment; duties
Amended 5 times on record
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case Virgin Islands Housing & Redevelopment Authority v. 19.1078 Acres of Land (1958)
Most recently applied in Mitchell v. Mullgrav (October 2017)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The President shall, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint a United States attorney for the Virgin Islands to whose office the provisions of chapter 35 of title 28, shall apply. Except as otherwise provided by law it shall be the duty of the United States attorney to prosecute all offenses against the United States and to conduct all legal proceedings, civil and criminal, to which the Government of the United States is a party in the district court and in the courts established by local law. He shall also prosecute in the district court in the name of the government of the Virgin Islands all offenses against the laws of the Virgin Islands which are cognizable by that court unless, at his request or with his consent, the prosecution of any such case is conducted by the attorney general of the Virgin Islands. The United States attorney may, when requested by the Governor or the attorney general of the Virgin Islands, conduct any other legal proceedings to which the government of the Virgin Islands is a party in the district court or the courts established by local law.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1984—Pub. L. 98–454 substituted “courts established by local law” for “inferior courts of the Virgin Islands” wherever appearing and struck out provisions relating to vacancies in the office of United States attorney for the Virgin Islands.
1971—Pub. L. 92–24 substituted “chapter 35” for “chapter 31” and struck out “except that the Attorney General shall not appoint more than one assistant United States attorney for the Virgin Islands” after “shall apply”.
1959—Pub. L. 86–289 substituted provisions making chapter 31 of title 28 applicable to United States attorney and by provisions specifying his duties, for provisions which prescribed his term of office and provided for his compensation, provided for appointment and compensation of his assistant and employees, and provided that he or his assistant conduct all legal proceedings in which the United States Government or the government of the Virgin Islands is a party in the District Court and inferior courts.
1958—Pub. L. 85–851 substituted “United States attorney” for “district attorney” wherever appearing.
Effective Date of 1984 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 98–454 effective on ninetieth day following Oct. 5, 1984, see section 1005 of Pub. L. 98–454, set out as a note under section 1424 of this title.