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There are 94 active United States district and territorial courts. [1] Each of the 50 states has between one and four district courts, and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico each have a district court.
The insular areas of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands each have one territorial court; these courts are called "district courts" and exercise the same jurisdiction as district courts, [2] [3] but differ from district courts in that territorial courts are Article IV courts, with judges who serve ten-year terms rather than the lifetime tenure of judges of Article III courts, such as the district court judges. [3] American Samoa does not have a district court or a federal territorial court, and so federal matters there are sent to either the District of Columbia or Hawaii. [4]
The district courts were established by Congress under Article III of the United States Constitution. The courts hear civil and criminal cases, and each is paired with a bankruptcy court. [2] Appeals from the district courts are made to one of the 13 courts of appeals, organized geographically. The number of district courts in a court of appeals' circuit varies between one and thirteen, depending on the number of states in the region and the number of districts in each state. The formal naming convention for the district courts is "United States District Court for" followed by the district name. Each district court has one or more meeting places at which it holds hearings and conducts business. Many federal courthouses are named after notable judges, such as the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in New York City or the Hugo L. Black United States Courthouse in Birmingham. The largest courthouse is the Thomas F. Eagleton United States Courthouse, which serves the Eastern District of Missouri. [5]
The largest courts by number of judges are the Central District of California and the Southern District of New York, each with 28 judgeships. The smallest are the District for the Northern Mariana Islands and the District of Guam, with one judgeship each.
Citation | The abbreviation used to refer to court decisions. |
Established | The date the district court was established as a court or the date it was subdivided from a larger district. |
Judges | The number of judgeships authorized for the district. |
Meeting places | The number of locations at which the court hears cases. |
Note: Defunct courts do not include courts consisting of an entire state that were later subdivided.
Name | Citation | Established | Disestablished |
---|---|---|---|
District of Edenton | — | 1794 | 1797 |
District of New Bern | — | 1794 | 1797 |
District of Wilmington | — | 1794 | 1797 |
District of East Jersey | — | 1801 | 1802 |
District of West Jersey | — | 1801 | 1802 |
District of Potomac | — | 1801 | 1802 |
District of Norfolk | — | 1801 | 1802 |
District of Albemarle | — | 1802 | 1872 |
District of Cape Fear | — | 1802 | 1872 |
District of Pamptico | — | 1802 | 1872 |
District of Orleans | — | 1804 | 1812 |
Eastern District of Illinois | E.D. Ill. | 1905 | 1978 |
District of China | — | 1906 | 1943 |
Eastern District of South Carolina | E.D.S.C. | 1911 | 1965 |
Western District of South Carolina | W.D.S.C. | 1911 | 1965 |
District of the Canal Zone | D.C.Z. | 1914 | 1982 |
District of Berlin | D.Berlin | 1955 | 1990 |
Name | Citation | Established | Subdivided |
---|---|---|---|
District of Alabama | D. Ala. | April 21, 1820 | March 10, 1824 |
District of Arkansas | D. Ark. | June 15, 1836 | March 3, 1851 |
District of California | D. Cal. | July 27, 1866 [6] | August 5, 1886 |
District of Florida | D. Fla. | March 3, 1845 | February 23, 1847 |
District of Georgia | D. Ga. | September 24, 1789 | August 11, 1848 |
District of Illinois | D. Ill. | March 3, 1819 | February 13, 1855 |
District of Indiana | D. Ind. | March 3, 1817 | April 21, 1928 |
District of Iowa | D. Iowa | March 3, 1845 | July 20, 1882 |
District of Kentucky | D. Ky. | September 24, 1789 March 8, 1802 [7] | February 13, 1801 February 12, 1901 |
District of Louisiana | D. La. | April 8, 1812 February 13, 1845 July 27, 1866 | March 3, 1823 March 3, 1849 March 3, 1881 |
District of Michigan | D. Mich. | July 1, 1836 | February 24, 1863 |
District of Mississippi | D. Miss. | April 3, 1818 | June 18, 1838 |
District of Missouri | D. Mo. | March 16, 1822 | March 3, 1857 |
District of New York | D.N.Y. | September 24, 1789 | April 9, 1814 |
District of North Carolina | D.N.C. | June 4, 1790 March 3, 1797 | June 9, 1794 April 29, 1802 |
District of Ohio | D. Ohio | February 19, 1803 | February 10, 1855 |
District of Pennsylvania | D. Pa. | September 24, 1789 | April 20, 1818 |
District of Tennessee | D. Tenn. | January 31, 1797 March 8, 1802 [8] | February 13, 1801 April 29, 1802 |
District of Texas | D. Tex. | December 29, 1845 | February 21, 1857 |
District of Virginia | D. Va. | September 24, 1789 March 8, 1802 June 11, 1864 | February 13, 1801 February 4, 1819 February 3, 1871 |
District of Washington | D. Wash. | April 5, 1890 | March 2, 1905 |
District of West Virginia | D.W.Va. | June 11, 1864 | January 22, 1901 |
District of Wisconsin | D. Wis. | May 29, 1848 | June 30, 1870 |
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal judiciary. They hear appeals of cases from the United States district courts and some U.S. administrative agencies, and their decisions can be appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States. The courts of appeals are divided into 13 "Circuits". Eleven of the circuits are numbered "First" through "Eleventh" and cover geographic areas of the United States and hear appeals from the U.S. district courts within their borders. The District of Columbia Circuit covers only Washington, DC. The Federal Circuit hears appeals from federal courts across the United States in cases involving certain specialized areas of law.
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one federal courthouse in each district, and many districts have more than one. District court decisions are appealed to the U.S. court of appeals for the circuit in which they reside, except for certain specialized cases that are appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit is a United States federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States district courts:
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory covers the states of Connecticut, New York, and Vermont, and it has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts:
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:
The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. courts of appeals, and it covers only one district court: the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It meets at the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse in Washington, DC.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has special appellate jurisdiction over certain categories of specialized cases in the U.S. federal court system. Specifically, it has exclusive appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal cases involving patents, trademark registrations, government contracts, veterans' benefits, public safety officers' benefits, federal employees' benefits, and various other types of cases. The Federal Circuit has no jurisdiction over criminal, bankruptcy, immigration, or U.S. state law cases. It is headquartered at the Howard T. Markey National Courts Building in Washington, DC.
The United States District Court for the District of Hawaii is the principal trial court of the United States Federal Court System in the state of Hawaii. The court's territorial jurisdiction encompasses the state of Hawaii and the territories of Midway Atoll, Wake Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll, Baker Island, Howland Island, and Jarvis Island; it also occasionally handles federal issues that arise in the territory of American Samoa, which has no local federal court or territorial court. It is located at the Prince Kuhio Federal Building in downtown Honolulu, fronting the Aloha Tower and Honolulu Harbor. The court hears both civil and criminal cases as a court of law and equity. A branch of the district court is the United States Bankruptcy Court which also has chambers in the federal building. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has appellate jurisdiction over cases coming out of the District of Hawaii. The United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii represents the United States in all civil and criminal cases within her district.
The appointment of federal judges for United States federal courts is done via nomination by the President of the United States and confirmation by the United States Senate. The tables below provide the composition of all Article III courts which include the Supreme Court and the Courts of Appeals at the end of each four year presidential term, as well as the current compositions of the District Courts and the Court of International Trade, categorizing the judges by the presidential term during which they were first appointed to their seats.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Maine is the U.S. district court for the state of Maine. The District of Maine was one of the original thirteen district courts established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, even though Maine was not a separate state from Massachusetts until 1820. The court is headquartered at the Edward T. Gignoux United States Courthouse in Portland, Maine, and has a second courthouse in Bangor, Maine.
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri is a trial level federal district court based in St. Louis, Missouri, with jurisdiction over fifty counties in the eastern half of Missouri. The court is one of ninety-four district-level courts which make up the first tier of the U.S. federal judicial system. Judges of this court preside over civil and criminal trials on federal matters that originate within the borders of its jurisdiction. It is organized into three divisions, with court held in St. Louis, Hannibal, and Cape Girardeau.
The United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee is the federal trial court for most of Middle Tennessee. Based at the Estes Kefauver Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Nashville, it was created in 1839 when Congress added a third district to the state. Tennessee—along with Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan—is located within the area covered by United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and appeals are taken to that court.
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee is the federal court in the Sixth Circuit whose jurisdiction covers most of East Tennessee and a portion of Middle Tennessee. The court has jurisdiction over 41 counties, which are divided among four divisions. Based in Knoxville, Tennessee, it maintains branch facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Greeneville, Tennessee; and Winchester, Tennessee.
The District Court of Guam is a United States territorial court with jurisdiction over the United States territory of Guam. It sits in the capital, Hagåtña. Appeals of the court's decisions are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. It is not an Article III court, and therefore its judges do not have life tenure, but are appointed to ten-year terms.
The Government of Guam (GovGuam) is a presidential representative democratic system, whereby the president is the head of state and the governor is head of government, and of a multi-party system. Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States with policy relations between Guam and the US under the jurisdiction of the Office of Insular Affairs.