Jeffrey B. C. Moorhead v. Glenda Lake, Clerk, District Court of the Virgin Islands, et al.

The District Court of the Virgin Islands entered a final order suspending petitioner from the practice of law. Petitioner filed a notice of appeal to the Third Circuit pursuant to F.R.App.P. 3. The district court ordered the clerk not to process the appeal, averring the order was not appealable. The clerk did not process the appeal. Petitioner filed for mandamus relief in the Third Circuit, seeking an order directing the district court clerk to process the appeal. The Third Circuit, including a circuit judge who had sat as a district court judge in the case below, denied mandamus relief for the same reasons, holding the suspension order was not appealable. The Questions Presented are:

1. Does 28 U.S.C. § 1291 grant lawyers the statutory right to appeal a final order of a district court suspending a lawyer from the practice of law?

2. Can a district court prevent appellate review of its own final decision by directing the clerk of the court not to process a timely notice of appeal filed pursuant to F.R.App.P. 3, which provides that “the clerk must promptly send a copy of the notice of appeal . . . to the clerk of the court of appeals”?

3. Did a circuit court judge violate 28 U.S.C. § 47 by determining an issue in a matter as an appellate judge that involved the same issue he had already determined below in the same case while sitting as a district court judge?