It is not an Article III court, and therefore its judges do not have life tenure, but are appointed to ten-year terms.

However, the Ninth Circuit found in 1976 that the appellate jurisdiction of the District Court could not be transferred without authorization by Congress, and the Supreme Court of the United States upheld this ruling in a 5–4 decision in 1977.

Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote the dissenting opinion, in which he argued that Congress had plainly authorized the enactment of the challenged legislation.

[3] Further legislation divested the District Court's appellate jurisdiction over local matters in 1994.

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