DESIGNATION AND TERM OF CHIEF JUDGE OF COURT.

SEC. 1032. DESIGNATION AND TERM OF CHIEF JUDGE OF COURT. (a) Rotation.—Subsection (d) of section 7253 is amended to read as follows: “(d) Chief Judge.—(1)The chief judge of the Court shall be the judge of the Court in regular active service who is senior in commission among the judges of the Court who— “(A) have served for one or more years as judges of the Court; and “(B) have not previously served as chief judge. “(2) In any case in which there is no judge of the Court in regular active service who has served as a judge of the Court for at least one year, the judge of the court in regular active service who is senior in commission and has not served previously as chief judge shall act as the chief judge. “(3) Except as provided in paragraph (4), a judge of the Court shall serve as the chief judge under paragraph (1) for a term of five years or until the judge becomes age 70, whichever occurs first. If no other judge is eligible under paragraph (1) to serve as chief judge upon the expiration of that term, that judge shall continue to serve as chief judge until another judge becomes eligible under that paragraph to serve as chief judge. “(4) (A) The term of a chief judge shall be terminated before the end of the term prescribed by paragraph (3) if— “(i) the chief judge leaves regular active service as a judge of the court; or “(ii) the chief judge notifies the other judges of the court in writing that such judge desires to be relieved of the duties of chief judge. “(B) The effective date of a termination of the term under subparagraph (A) shall be the date on which the chief judge leaves regular active service or the date of the notification under subparagraph (A)(ii), as the case may be. “(5) If a chief judge is temporarily unable to perform the duties of chief judge, those duties shall be performed by the judge of the court in active service who is present, able and qualified to act, and is next in precedence. 113 STAT. 1595 “(6) Judges who have the same seniority in commission shall be eligible for service as chief judge in accordance with their relative precedence.”. (b) Ineligibility of Judges on Temporary Service.—A person serving as a judge of the Court under section 1011 may not serve as chief judge of the Court.