District of the Northern Mariana Islands

The District of the Northern Mariana Islands, created in 1977 after the CNMI became a U.S. commonwealth, holds court in Saipan and is among the smallest federal district courts in the system with one authorized judgeship. The district has handled significant federal labor and immigration cases arising from the CNMI's garment manufacturing industry and foreign guest-worker programs. Appeals from the CNMI federal court go to the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco.