United States District Court for the District of Delaware

• Court
• Judges

District of Delaware Third Circuit Chief: Greg Sleet Judges: 4 Posts: 4 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Andrews • Robinson • Stark Senior Judges Longobardi • Schwartz Magistrate Judges Burke • Thynge Former Judges

Key: (Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.) 0% 0%-10% 10%-25% 25%-40% More than 40%

The United States District Court for the District of Delaware is a Federal district court

The current U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware is Colm F. Connolly.

When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals based in Downtown Philadelphia at the James Byrne Courthouse.

Vacancy warning level

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania's vacancy warning level is currently set at green. The court currently has no current vacancies.

Jurisdiction

The Counties of Delaware (click for larger map)

The jurisdiction of the District of Delaware consists of all the counties in the state of Delaware. The court's headquarters are in Wilmington.

When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals based in downtown Philadelphia at the James Byrne Courthouse.

Cases heard

The District of Delaware has original jurisdiction over cases filed within its jurisdiction. These cases can include civil and criminal matters that fall under federal law.

Case load

Federal Court Case Load Statistics*

Year	Starting case load:	Cases filed:	Total cases:	Cases terminated:	Remaining cases:	Median time(Criminal)**:	Median time(Civil)**:	3 Year Civil cases#:	Vacant posts:##	Trials/Post
2010	1501	1287	2788	1143	1645	9.2	9.8	223(14.9%)	12.1	22
2009	1482	1264	2746	1243	1503	9.1	8.3	229(17.2%)	12	29
2008	1511	1206	2717	1222	1495	8.6	11.2	175(13.8%)	12	26
2007	1501	1065	2566	975	1591	8.5	12.5	108(8.2%)	9.5	21
2006	1853	1077	2930	1419	1511	9.3	16.8	142(10.6%)	0	15

*All statistics are taken from the Official Federal Courts' Website and reflect the calendar year through September.    **Time in months from filing to completion. #This statistic includes cases which have been appealed in higher courts.    ##This is the total number of months that any all judicial posts had spent vacant that year.

Clerk's office

The District of Delaware has one official courthouse. The clerk of court is Peter T. Dalleo and he can be contacted at 302-573-6170. Offices are open Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. excluding observed holidays. Inclement weather cancellations will be announced on the main Clerk's Office number and on the following radio stations: [www.wdel.com WDEL 1150 AM], [www.wstw.com WSTW 93.7 FM], [www.wilm.com WILM 1450 AM], [www.eagle977.com WAFL 97.7 FM]. The clerks office is located at:

OFFICE OF THE CLERK
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
844 N KING ST UNIT 18
WILMINGTON DE 19801-3570

History

Court history

See also: Historical Page for the US District Court for Delaware

The District of Delaware was established by Congress on September 24, 1789 with one post to cover the entire state. Over time 3 additional judicial posts were added to the court for a total of 4 current posts.

Judicial posts

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the District of Delaware:

Year	Statute	Total Seats
September 24, 1789	1 Stat. 73	1
July 24, 1946	60 Stat. 654	2(1 temporary)
September 5, 1950	64 Stat. 578	2
February 10, 1954	68 Stat. 8	3
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	4

Notable cases

For a searchable list of opinions, please see Opinions of the District of Delaware.

• Delaware River dredging case  Judge(s):Sue Robinson

Judge Robinson was the judge presiding in the case of the required dredging of the Delaware River. On December 9, 2009, the judge found that the State of Delaware was not granted an injunction to block the Army Corps of Engineers to begin the dredging of the Delaware River. The judge criticized the State for using stall tactics to block a project, according to the ruling, that was supposed to begin in 2004. On January 27, 2010, Judge Robinson denied an injunction from the State of Delaware from requiring the Army Corps of Engineers to get permits from the state in order to deepen a channel in the Delaware River which is part of a dredging project. The State wanted a permit process to examine environmental impacts, but the judge denied the injunction on the basis of a 1992 law passed by Congress that would allow for the dredging project to happen. There is no word if attorneys representing the State of Delaware plan to appeal the ruling to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. Since the ruling, the Army Corps of Engineers have been able to do its dredging work even though they have a February 2010 deadline from its current contract with the State of Delaware to do the dredging work and maintainence.

• Sex tourist case  Judge(s):Greg Sleet
Judge Sleet presided in the trial of Thomas Pendelton who was found guilty of traveling out of the nation to have sex with an underage girl. On February 3, 2010, he sentenced Pendelton to thirty years in prison, ten more than what the federal guidelines required. The judge felt the sentence would protect children from "further acts of depravity".

• Delaware sports betting  Judge(s):Greg Sleet

Judge Sleet on August 5, 2009, blocked a motion from all the major sports leagues in the United States and the NCAA to block the re-authorization of sports betting in Delaware pending a lawsuit on the matter. The judge found in his ruling that there was not enough evidence to prevent the State of Delaware from re-authorizing sports betting. A trial date is set for December 7, 2009 in which the two sides will face one another to argue the legality of sports betting.

Federal courthouse

There is one federal courthouses that serves the District of Maryland.

Major news

For new stories and other related material see Maryland judicial news.

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

External links

• US District Court for District of Deleware
• Judges of the District of Delaware
• US Attorney's Office for the District of Delaware
• Opinions of the District of Delaware

References

District of Delaware Third Circuit Chief: Greg Sleet Judges: 4 Posts: 4 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Andrews • Robinson • Stark Senior Judges Longobardi • Schwartz Magistrate Judges Thynge Former Judges

Key: (Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.) 0% 0%-10% 10%-25% 25%-40% More than 40%

According to the FJC, since the court was established, 23 Article III federal judges have served on it.

Active judges

Article III judges

See: Article III federal judge
The United States District Court for the District of Delaware has 4 posts and 0 vacancies. The current Chief Judge is Greg Sleet. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Chief Judge Greg Sleet	1951	New York, NY	Clinton	4/30/1998 - Present	2007 - Present	Joseph Longobardi	Hampton U., B.A., 1973	Rutgers U. Law, J.D., 1976
Judge Sue Robinson	1952	Mount Carmel, IL	H.W. Bush	11/18/1991 - Present	2000 - 2007	Jane Roth	U. of Delaware, B.A., 1974	U. of Pennsylvania Law, J.D., 1978
Judge Leonard Stark	1969	Detroit, MI	Obama	8/5/2010 - Present		Kent Jordan	U. of Delaware, 1991	Yale Law, 1996
Judge Richard G. Andrews	1955	Manchester, England	Obama	11/3/2011 - Present		Joseph Farnan	Haverford College, B.A., 1977	U. of California Berkley Law, J.D., 1981

Pending appointments

There are no current pending appointments for the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States District Court for the District of Delaware has 2 judges on senior status currently. This is a list of the current senior judges on the court:

Judge	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Senior	Bachelors	Law
Senior Judge Joseph Longobardi	Reagan	5/03/1984 - 6/14/1997	1989 - 1996	6/15/2007 - Present	Washington College, B.A., 1952	Temple U. Law, LL.B., 1957
Senior Judge Murray Schwartz	Nixon	4/17/1974 - 7/23/1989	1985 - 1989	7/24/1989 - Present	U. of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business, B.S., 1952	U. of Pennsylvania Law, LL.B., 1955

Magistrate judges

Judge	Active	Bachelors	Law
Magistrate Judge Mary Thynge	Current
Magistrate Judge Christopher J. Burke	Current

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Murray Schwartz	1985 - 1989
Joseph Longobardi	1989 - 1996
Caleb Wright	1957 - 1973
Paul Leahy	1948 - 1957
James Latchum	1973 - 1983
Walter Stapleton	1983 - 1985
Sue Robinson	2000 - 2007
Joseph Farnan	1996 - 2000

In order to qualify for the office of Chief Judge in one of the federal courts, a judge must have been in active service on the court for at least one year, be under the age of 65, and have not previously served as Chief Judge. A vacancy in the office of Chief Judge is filled by the judge highest in seniority among the group of qualified judges. The Chief Judge serves for a term of seven years or until age 70, whichever occurs first. The age restrictions are waived if no members of the court would otherwise be qualified for the position. Unlike the Chief Justice of the United States, a Chief Judge returns to active service after the expiration of his or her term and does not create a vacancy on the bench by the fact of his or her promotion. See 28 U.S.C. § 45.

These rules for Chief Judges in the federal judiciary have been in effect since October 1, 1982. The office of Chief Judge was created in 1948. Until August 6, 1959, the position was filled in each federal court by the longest-serving judge who had not elected to retire on what has since 1958 been known as senior status or declined to serve as Chief Judge. From then until 1982 it was filled by the senior such judge who had not turned 70.

Former judges

Seat 1	Seat 2	Seat 3
Judge Term Steel 4/23/1958 - 12/30/1969 Leahy 1/14/1942 - 10/7/1957 Nields 7/3/1930 - 9/30/1941 Morris 1/27/1919 - 6/30/1930 Bradford II 5/11/1897 - 5/20/1918 Roth 1985-1991 Stapleton 1970 - 1985 Wales 3/20/1884 - 2/8/1897 Bradford 12/12/1871 - 1/16/1884 Hall 12/9/1823 - 12/6/1871 Fisher 4/23/1812 - 4/22/1823 Bedford 9/26/1789 - 3/30/1812 Robinson 11/18/1991 - Present	Judge Term Longobardi 5/03/1984 - 6/14/1997 Rodney 7/31/1946 - 1/1/1957 Layton 4/17/1957 - 4/26/1968 Latchum 8/3/1968 - 12/23/1983 Sleet 4/30/1998 - Present	Judge Term Schwartz 4/17/1974 - 7/23/1989 Wright 7/27/1955 - 10/8/1973 McKelvie 3/2/1992 - 6/28/2002 Jordan 2002 - 2006 Stark 8/5/2010 - Present
Seat 4
Judge Term Andrews 11/3/2011 - Present Farnan 7/16/1985 - 7/31/2010