DISTRICT COURT OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS 
DIVISION OF ST. THOMAS AND ST. JOHN 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, and 
THE PEOPLE OF THE VIRGIN 
ISLANDS, 
Plaintiffs, 
v. 
JEROME BLYDEN, 
Defendant. 
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Criminal No. 2009-20 
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ATTORNEYS: 
 
Ronald Sharpe, USA 
Kim L. Chisholm, AUSA 
United States Attorney’s Office 
St. Thomas, VI 
For the United States of America and the People of the 
Virgin Islands, 
 
Jerome Blyden 
St. Thomas, VI 
 
Pro se. 
 
ORDER 
GÓMEZ, J.  
Before the Court is Jerome Blyden’s motion to disqualify 
the undersigned. 
 
Jerome Blyden (“Blyden”) argues that the undersigned must 
be removed from this case because the undersigned has exceeded 
ten years as a judge on the District Court of the Virgin 
Islands. Blyden also argues that certain orders issued by the 
Case: 3:09-cr-00020-CVG-RM   Document #: 620   Filed: 03/09/16   Page 1 of 3
United States v. Blyden 
Criminal No. 2009-20 
Order 
Page 2 
 
undersigned more than ten years after the undersigned’s 
appointment should be vacated. 
 
The Revised Organic Act, in pertinent part, provides that 
the term of appointment for a judge of the District Court of the 
Virgin Islands is “ten years and until their successors are 
chosen and qualified, unless sooner removed by the President for 
cause.” 48 U.S.C. § 1614(a) (emphasis added). Given that 
context, the remedy suggested by Blyden is only possible if one 
were to ignore the conjunctive language “and until,” that 
immediately follows the words “ten years.”  
Of course, the Court is required to give meaning to each 
word in a statute and to read the statute as a whole. Tavarez v. 
Klingensmith, 372 F.3d 188, 190 (3d Cir. 2004). It would be 
verboten to do otherwise in interpreting a statute. Applying 
well-established principles of statutory construction to the 
Revised Organic Act, the statutory language is very clear. The 
ten-year period referred to in the Revised Organic Act is a 
floor for a district judge’s term. It is not a cap. See 18 
U.S.C. § 1614(a). In short, the term is not finite. Indeed, only 
if a successor is chosen and qualified does the term end.1 48 
U.S.C. § 1614(a). 
                                                          
1 Clearly, Congress has the capacity to legislate terms of office for a finite 
period, as it has in other contexts. See, e.g., 26 U.S.C. § 7443(e)(“The term 
of office of any judge of the Tax Court shall expire 15 years after he takes 
Case: 3:09-cr-00020-CVG-RM   Document #: 620   Filed: 03/09/16   Page 2 of 3
United States v. Blyden 
Criminal No. 2009-20 
Order 
Page 3 
 
The premises considered; it is hereby  
 
ORDERED that the motion to disqualify is DENIED. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
S\ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   CURTIS V. GÓMEZ               
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
   District Judge 
 
                                                          
office.”). Exercising its sound discretion, Congress chose not to define a 
finite term with respect to judges of the District Court of the Virgin 
Islands. 
Case: 3:09-cr-00020-CVG-RM   Document #: 620   Filed: 03/09/16   Page 3 of 3