
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 28USC81A]

 
               TITLE 28--JUDICIARY AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURE
 
                     PART I--ORGANIZATION OF COURTS
 
                       CHAPTER 5--DISTRICT COURTS
 
Sec. 81A. Alaska

    Alaska constitutes one judicial district.

        Court shall be held at Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Ketchikan, 
                                        and Nome.

(Added Pub. L. 85-508, Sec. 12(b), July 7, 1958, 72 Stat. 348; amended 
Pub. L. 86-70, Sec. 23(b), June 25, 1959, 73 Stat. 147.)


                               Amendments

    1959--Pub. L. 86-70 inserted ``Ketchikan,''.


                    Effective Date of 1959 Amendment

    Section 12 of Pub. L. 85-508 provided in part that this section, and 
the amendments to sections 133, 333, 373, 376, 460, 610, 753, 1252, 
1291, 1292, 1294, 1346, 1963, 2072, 2201 and 2410 of this title, section 
341b of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, and sections 
3241, 3401, 3771 and 3772 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, 
are effective on the admission of Alaska into the Union. Admission as a 
State was accomplished Jan. 3, 1959 upon issuance of Proc. No. 3269, 
Jan. 3, 1959, 24 F.R. 81, 73 Stat. c16, as required by sections 1 and 
8(c) of Pub. L. 85-508. See notes set out preceding section 21 of Title 
48, Territories and Insular Possessions.


                          Continuation of Suits

    Section 13 of Pub. L. 85-508 provided that: ``No writ, action, 
indictment, cause, or proceeding pending in the District Court for the 
Territory of Alaska on the date when said Territory shall become a 
State, and no case pending in an appellate court upon appeal from the 
District Court for the Territory of Alaska at the time said Territory 
shall become a State, shall abate by the admission of the State of 
Alaska into the Union, but the same shall be transferred and proceeded 
with as hereinafter provided.
    ``All civil causes of action and all criminal offenses which shall 
have arisen or been committed prior to the admission of said State, but 
as to which no suit, action, or prosecution shall be pending at the date 
of such admission, shall be subject to prosecution in the appropriate 
State courts or in the United States District Court for the District of 
Alaska in like manner, to the same extent, and with like right of 
appellate review, as if said State had been created and said courts had 
been established prior to the accrual of said causes of action or the 
commission of such offenses; and such of said criminal offenses as shall 
have been committed against the laws of the Territory shall be tried and 
punished by the appropriate courts of said State, and such as shall have 
been committed against the laws of the United States shall be tried and 
punished in the United States District Court for the District of 
Alaska.''


                                 Appeals

    Section 14 of Pub. L. 85-508 provided that: ``All appeals taken from 
the District Court for the Territory of Alaska to the Supreme Court of 
the United States or the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth 
Circuit, previous to the admission of Alaska as a State, shall be 
prosecuted to final determination as though this Act had not been 
passed. All cases in which final judgement has been rendered in such 
district court, and in which appeals might be had except for the 
admission of such State, may still be sued out, taken, and prosecuted to 
the Supreme Court of the United States or the United States Court of 
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit under the provisions of then existing law, 
and there held and determined in like manner; and in either case, the 
Supreme Court of the United States, or the United States Court of 
Appeals, in the event of reversal, shall remand the said cause to either 
the State supreme court or other final appellate court of said State, or 
the United States district court for said district, as the case may 
require: Provided, That the time allowed by existing law for appeals 
from the district court for said Territory shall not be enlarged 
thereby.''


                            Transfer of Cases

    Section 15 of Pub. L. 85-508 provided that: ``All causes pending or 
determined in the District Court for the Territory of Alaska at the time 
of the admission of Alaska as a State which are of such nature as to be 
within the jurisdiction of a district court of the United States shall 
be transferred to the United States District Court for the District of 
Alaska for final disposition and enforcement in the same manner as is 
now provided by law with reference to the judgments and decrees in 
existing United States district courts. All other causes pending or 
determined in the District Court for the Territory of Alaska at the time 
of the admission of Alaska as a State shall be transferred to the 
appropriate State court of Alaska. All final judgments and decrees 
rendered upon such transferred cases in the United States District Court 
for the District of Alaska may be reviewed by the Supreme Court of the 
United States or by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth 
Circuit in the same manner as is now provided by law with reference to 
the judgments and decrees in existing United States district courts.''


                          Succession of Courts

    Section 16 of Pub. L. 85-508 provided that: ``Jurisdiction of all 
cases pending or determined in the District Court for the Territory of 
Alaska not transferred to the United States District Court for the 
District of Alaska shall devolve upon and be exercised by the courts of 
original jurisdiction created by said State, which shall be deemed to be 
the successor of the District Court for the Territory of Alaska with 
respect to cases not so transferred and, as such, shall take and retain 
custody of all records, dockets, journals, and files of such court 
pertaining to such cases. The files and papers in all cases so 
transferred to the United States district court, together with a 
transcript of all book entries to complete the record in such particular 
cases so transferred, shall be in like manner transferred to said 
district court.''


                              Pending Cases

    Section 17 of Pub. L. 85-508 provided that: ``All cases pending in 
the District Court for the Territory of Alaska at the time said 
Territory becomes a State not transferred to the United States District 
Court for the District of Alaska shall be proceeded with and determined 
by the courts created by said State with the right to prosecute appeals 
to the appellate courts created by said State, and also with the same 
right to prosecute appeals or writs of certiorari from the final 
determination in said causes made by the court of last resort created by 
such State to the Supreme Court of the United States, as now provided by 
law for appeals and writs of certiorari from the court of last resort of 
a State to the Supreme Court of the United States.''


   Termination of Jurisdiction of District Court for the Territory of 
                                 Alaska

    Section 18 of Pub. L. 85-508 provided that: ``The provisions of the 
preceding sections with respect to the termination of the jurisdiction 
of the District Court for the Territory of Alaska, the continuation of 
suits, the succession of courts, and the satisfaction of rights of 
litigants in suits before such courts, shall not be effective until 
three years after the effective date of this Act [see section 8(b) of 
Pub. L. 85-508, set out as a note preceding section 21 of Title 48, 
Territories and Insular Possessions], unless the President, by Executive 
order, shall sooner proclaim that the United States District Court for 
the District of Alaska, established in accordance with the provisions of 
this Act, is prepared to assume the functions imposed upon it. During 
such period of three years or until such Executive order is issued, the 
United States District Court for the Territory of Alaska shall continue 
to function as heretofore. The tenure of the judges, the United States 
attorneys, marshals, and other officers of the United States District 
Court for the Territory of Alaska shall terminate at such time as that 
court shall cease to function as provided in this section.''


            Schedule of Fees, Mileage, or Other Compensation

    Section 23(c) of Pub. L. 86-70, June 25, 1959, 73 Stat. 147, 
provided that: ``Such authority as has been exercised by the Attorney 
General heretofore, with regard to the Federal court system in Alaska, 
pursuant to section 30 of the Act of June 6, 1900 (48 U.S.C. 25) shall 
continue to be exercised by him after the court created by section 12(b) 
of the Act of July 7, 1958 (72 Stat. 339, 348) [this section], providing 
for the admission of the State of Alaska into the Union, is 
established.''

 Ex. Ord. No. 10867. Assumption of Functions by United States District 
                      Court for District of Alaska

    Ex. Ord. No. 10867, Feb. 20, 1960, 25 F.R. 1584, provided:
    WHEREAS the act of July 7, 1958, 72 Stat. 339 [set out as a note 
preceding section 21 of Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions], 
relating to the admission of the State of Alaska into the Union, 
provides that the United States District Court for the Territory of 
Alaska shall continue to function as theretofore for a period of three 
years after the effective date of that act, unless the President, by 
Executive order, shall sooner proclaim that the United States District 
Court for the District of Alaska, established in accordance with the 
provisions of that act, is prepared to assume the functions imposed upon 
it; and
    WHEREAS that act further provides that its provisions relating to 
the termination of the jurisdiction of the District Court for the 
Territory of Alaska, the continuation of suits, the succession of 
courts, and the satisfaction of the rights of litigants in suits before 
such courts shall not be effective until the expiration of the above-
mentioned three-year period or until such Executive order is issued; and 
that the tenure of the judges, the United States Attorneys, Marshals, 
and other officers of the United States District Court for the Territory 
of Alaska shall terminate at such time as that court shall cease to 
function; and
    WHEREAS, I have appointed, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, and commissioned the Honorable Walter N. Hodge to be United 
States District Judge for the District of Alaska, and he has taken his 
oath of office; and
    WHEREAS Judge Hodge has appointed an acting United States Attorney, 
an acting United States Marshal, and other court officers; and
    WHEREAS the United States District Court for the District of Alaska 
is now prepared to assume the functions imposed upon it:
    NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by section 
18 of the said act of July 7, 1958 [set out above], I hereby proclaim 
that the United States District Court for the District of Alaska is 
prepared to assume the functions imposed upon it. Accordingly, the 
jurisdiction of the District Court for the Territory of Alaska and the 
tenure of the judges, the United States Attorneys, Marshals, and other 
officers of that court are now terminated.
                                                   Dwight D. Eisenhower.
