Return to U.S. District Courts Listing
U.S District Courts
The 94 U.S. district courts around the country (including courts in Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands) constitute the trial courts of the federal system. Appeals are to the U.S. Courts of Appeal and from there to the U.S. Supreme Court.
For chart showing structure of the U.S.court system, click here.
Listed in this section for each district are: U.S. District Court judges and court clerks, U.S. Attorneys, U.S. Magistrate judges, U.S. Bankruptcy judges and clerks. The jurisdiction of the district courts extends to federal question and diversity matters. U.S. district court judges are appointed for life by the President, subject to Senate confirmation. U.S. Bankruptcy judges are appointed by U.S. appellate court panels for 14-year terms and Magistrate Judges by U.S. district court panels for eight-year terms.
U.S. Attorneys are appointed by the President to 4-year terms, subject to Senate confirmation. Their function is to bring civil and criminal actions on behalf of the federal government. A U.S. Attorney is appointed for each federal district.
The district-by-district listings that follow include both "active" and "senior" (semi-retired) U.S. district judges. Active judges are listed by date they received their judicial commission, which occurs following confirmation but prior to being sworn in. Senior judges are listed in the order in which they assumed senior status, the last listed being the judge most recently assuming senior status.
Under current rules, an appellate or district court judge with 15 years of active service may "retire on salary" or assume "senior status" at age 65. A sliding scale makes judges with a minimum of 10 years of service eligible at age 70. Senior judges, who essentially provide volunteer service to the courts, typically handle about 15 percent of the federal courts’ workload annually. Those who retire on salary rather than assume senior status are "inactive" and not included in this directory.
Federal appellate and district judges cannot be required to retire or take senior status when they become eligible, because they have life tenure under Article III of the Constitution. Thus they are referred to as "Article III" judges.
There are currently 179 authorized appellate judges and 677 district judges. Once a judge retires or assumes senior status, it creates a vacancy on that court. That vacancy is filled by the president nominating and the Senate confirming (or rejecting) that nomination.
In the district-by-district listing, the date that appears after the judges' names, is the date (which occurs shortly after confirmation) they received their judicial commissions. This is followed by the judges being sworn in and then by the assumption of their official duties.
U.S. district judges are assisted by U.S. magistrate judges in both civil and criminal matters. While district judges once confirmed by the U.S. Senate have lifetime tenure, magistrate judges are appointed by a majority vote of the federal district judges of a particular district and serve eight year terms if full-time or four years if part-time, and may be reappointed.
U.S. magistrate judges play an important role in the federal litigation process. In civil cases it is not uncommon for magistrate judges to conduct almost all pretrial proceedings, preparing the case for trial before the assigned district judge. In recent years there has been an increase in the number of civil cases tried or otherwise disposed of by magistrate judges, such disposition requiring the consent of both parties. In criminal cases, magistrate judges generally oversee the first appearance of defendants and set bail.
For chart showing structure of the U.S.court system, click here.
Listed in this section for each district are: U.S. District Court judges and court clerks, U.S. Attorneys, U.S. Magistrate judges, U.S. Bankruptcy judges and clerks. The jurisdiction of the district courts extends to federal question and diversity matters. U.S. district court judges are appointed for life by the President, subject to Senate confirmation. U.S. Bankruptcy judges are appointed by U.S. appellate court panels for 14-year terms and Magistrate Judges by U.S. district court panels for eight-year terms.
U.S. Attorneys are appointed by the President to 4-year terms, subject to Senate confirmation. Their function is to bring civil and criminal actions on behalf of the federal government. A U.S. Attorney is appointed for each federal district.
The district-by-district listings that follow include both "active" and "senior" (semi-retired) U.S. district judges. Active judges are listed by date they received their judicial commission, which occurs following confirmation but prior to being sworn in. Senior judges are listed in the order in which they assumed senior status, the last listed being the judge most recently assuming senior status.
Under current rules, an appellate or district court judge with 15 years of active service may "retire on salary" or assume "senior status" at age 65. A sliding scale makes judges with a minimum of 10 years of service eligible at age 70. Senior judges, who essentially provide volunteer service to the courts, typically handle about 15 percent of the federal courts’ workload annually. Those who retire on salary rather than assume senior status are "inactive" and not included in this directory.
Federal appellate and district judges cannot be required to retire or take senior status when they become eligible, because they have life tenure under Article III of the Constitution. Thus they are referred to as "Article III" judges.
There are currently 179 authorized appellate judges and 677 district judges. Once a judge retires or assumes senior status, it creates a vacancy on that court. That vacancy is filled by the president nominating and the Senate confirming (or rejecting) that nomination.
In the district-by-district listing, the date that appears after the judges' names, is the date (which occurs shortly after confirmation) they received their judicial commissions. This is followed by the judges being sworn in and then by the assumption of their official duties.
U.S. district judges are assisted by U.S. magistrate judges in both civil and criminal matters. While district judges once confirmed by the U.S. Senate have lifetime tenure, magistrate judges are appointed by a majority vote of the federal district judges of a particular district and serve eight year terms if full-time or four years if part-time, and may be reappointed.
U.S. magistrate judges play an important role in the federal litigation process. In civil cases it is not uncommon for magistrate judges to conduct almost all pretrial proceedings, preparing the case for trial before the assigned district judge. In recent years there has been an increase in the number of civil cases tried or otherwise disposed of by magistrate judges, such disposition requiring the consent of both parties. In criminal cases, magistrate judges generally oversee the first appearance of defendants and set bail.