On June 9, the Third Circuit issued this opinion in Rodriquez v 32nd Legislature of the Virgin Islands, 17-1518. It says that no court can decide whether Kevin Rodriquez meets the qualifications to be in the legislature. Only the legislature itself can decide that. The federal law that functions as the Constitution of the U.S. Virgin Islands has a three-year residency requirement for members of the legislature. After Rodriquez was elected in November 2016, he was not seated, because it was discovered that he had sworn (during a bankruptcy proceeding) that he had been a resident of Tennessee for the past few years.

The Virgin Islands had then held a special election to fill his seat on April 8, 2017, which was won by an independent candidate, Janelle Sarauw. However because the dispute was unresolved, the Virgin Islands election authorities refused to certify the results. Lawsuits had been filed in both the Virgin Islands court system and the federal court system, but their only result has been to tell the legislature to make its own determination as to whether Rodriquez satisfies the residency requirement.