High Court of American Samoa

The High Court of American Samoa courthouse in 2008

The High Court of American Samoa is a Samoan court and the highest court below the United States Supreme Court in American Samoa. The Court is located in the capital of Fagatogo. It consists of one chief justice and one associate justice, appointed by the United States Secretary of the Interior, holding office during "good behavior" and removable for cause. As American Samoa has no local federal district court or territorial court, the High Court has also been granted the powers of a federal district court in certain matters while other federal matters are handled by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii.

The High Court of American Samoa also has several Samoan associate judges who sit with the two justices. Normally, two associate judges will sit with the chief justice and associate justice on every case.

The Secretary of the Interior retains ultimate authority over the courts.

The colonial-style Maugaolii High Court served as the U.S. Navy headquarters during World War II.

The High Court consists of four divisions:

• the trial division;
• the land and titles division;
• the family, drug and alcohol division; and
• the appellate division.

The trial division, which consists of the Chief Justice, the Associate Justice, and associate judges, is a court of general jurisdiction, empowered to hear, among other things, felony cases and civil cases in which the amount in controversy exceeds $15,000 and are not related to land or matai titles.

The past and present justices of the court:

• Judiciary of American Samoa

• Article I and Article III tribunals#Article IV tribunals

• Tagupa, William E. H (September 1983). "Judicial Intervention in Matai Title Succession Disputes in American Samoa". Oceania. 54 (1): 23–31. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1983.tb02015.x. JSTOR 40330715.

• American Samoa Legal Database

• "American Samoa", Caselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School, OCLC 1078785565, Court decisions freely available to the public online, in a consistent format, digitized from the collection of the Harvard Law Library