United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
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The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania is a United States district court. It is one of the original 13 federal judiciary districts created by the Judiciary Act of 1789. It originally sat in Independence Hall in Philadelphia as the United States District Court for the District of Pennsylvania, and is now located at the James Byrne Courthouse at 601 Market Street in Philadelphia, with divisional offices at the Robert N.C. Nix Building in Philadelphia and in Allentown, Easton and Reading, Pennsylvania.
The people in the district are represented by the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
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.
The geographic jurisdiction of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania includes Philadelphia, as well as Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Lehigh, Montgomery and Northampton counties.
Judges
The Eastern District of Pennsylvania has been authorized since 1997 to have 22 Article III federal judgeships. Since the court was established, 91 Article III judges have served on it.[1]
Of the twenty-two Article III judges on the court, eighteen were nominated by Republican presidents. Three of the active judges are women.
Chief judges
- Harvey Bartle, chief judge of the district
- Thomas Reuter, chief magistrate judge of the district
Article III judges
- Nominated by George H.W. Bush: Bartle, Brody, Dalzell, Joyner and Roberno.
- Nominated by Bill Clinton: McLaughlin, Schiller, Surrick and Tucker.
- Nominated by George W. Bush: Baylson, L. Davis, Diamond, Gardner, Goldberg, Golden, D. Jones, Pratter, Rufe, Sanchez, Savage, Slomsky and Stengel.
Magistrate judges
Senior judges
History
The United States District Court for the District of Pennsylvania was one of the original 13 districts created by the Judiciary Act of 1789. In 1818, it was divided into two districts, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the Eastern District court.
In 1901, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania was carved out of the Eastern and Western districts.[2]
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| September 14, 1789 | The Judiciary Act of 1789 organized Pennsylvania as one judicial district with one authorized judgeship, appeals going to the Middle Circuit. |
| February 13, 1801 | The Judiciary Act of 1801 divided the federal courts into six circuits and assigned the District of Pennsylvania to the Third Circuit. |
| April 29, 1802 | The Judiciary Act of 1802, although repealing the Judiciary Act of 1801, repeated breaking the federal courts into six circuits and assigning the District of Pennsylvania to the Third Circuit. |
| April 20, 1818 | Eastern District is carved out of the District of Pennsylvania with one authorized judgeship and established as court for appeals and writs of error from decisions in the new Western District. |
| May 15, 1820 | Congress decides that the Eastern District will no longer hear appeals and writs of error from the Western District of Pennsylvania. |
| March 2, 1901 | The Middle District of Pennsylvania is newly-created, carved out of parts of the Eastern and Western districts. |
| April 1, 1904 | A second judgeship is authorized for the Eastern District. |
| February 16, 1914 | A temporary judgeship -- never made permanent -- is authorized for the Eastern District. |
| September 14, 1922 | A temporary judgeship -- never made permanent -- is authorized for the Eastern District. |
| March 3, 1927 | A new judgeship is authorized for the Eastern District. |
| June 16, 1936 | A temporary judgeship is authorized for the Eastern District. |
| June 2, 1938 | Temporary judgeship authorized in June 1936 made permanent |
| May 24, 1940 | A temporary judgeship is authorized for the Eastern District. |
| December 7, 1944 | Temporary judgeship authorized in May 1940 made permanent |
| July 24, 1946 | A temporary judgeship is authorized to serve all three Pennsylvania districts. |
| August 3, 1949 | Two additional judgeships authorized. |
| February 10, 1954 | One additional judgeship authorized. The temporary judgeship created in July 1946 for all three districts assigned exclusively to the Middle District. |
| May 19, 1961 | Three additional judgeships authorized. |
| March 18, 1966 | Three temporary judgeships authorized. One of these positions is never made permanent. |
| June 2, 1970 | Six additional judgeships authorized. Two temporary positions authorized in March 1966 made permanent. |
| December 1, 1990 | Three additional judgeships authorized, for a total of 22 permanent judgeships. One temporary judgeship authorized. |
Courthouses
The main gathering place for the Eastern District is at the James A. Bryne Courthouse at 601 Market Street in Philadelphia. The building was named in honor of James A. Byrne, a a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania from 1953-1973.
The courthouse stands 22 stories high. It houses courtrooms, judge’s chambers, jury rooms and prisoner holding areas. The building was significantly remodelled starting in 2000 because the original brick facade had cracked and weakened from settlement over time.[3]
The sculpture in the main entrance foyer was designed by Louise Nevelson.[4]
Judges of the Eastern District also hold court at:
- The Robert N.C. Nix Building at 900 Market Street in Philadelphia
- The Edward N. Cahn Federal Courthouse at 504 Hamilton Street, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
- The Holmes Building, 101 Larry Holmes Drive, Easton, Pennsylvania.
- The Madison Building, 400 Washington Street, Reading, Pennsylvania.
External links
- Official website of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- Opinions of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- Judges of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
References
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Federal judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Active judges |
Bartle • Baylson • Davis • Dalzell • Diamond • Gardner • Goldberg • Golden • Jones • Joyner • McLaughlin • Pratter • Roberno • Rufe • Sanchez • Savage • Schiller • Slomsky • Stengel • Surrick • Tucker • Vacancy |
| Senior judges |
Brody • Buckwalter • Ditter • Dubois • Fullam • Katz • Kauffman • Kelley • Ludwig • O'Neill • Padova • Pollak • Reed • Shapiro • Van Artsdalen • Yohn |
| Magistrate judges |
Angell • Caracappa • Hart • Hey • Perkin • Restrepo • Reuter • Rice • Sitarski • Strawbridge • Wells |
| Former judges |
Bard • Bechtle • Becker • Body • Broderick • Butler • Cadwalader • Cahn • Clary • Davis • Dickinson • Egan • Fogel • Follmer • Freedman • Ganey • Gawthrop • Giles • Gorbey • Green • Grim • Hannum • Higginbotham • Holland • F. Hopkinson (DP) • J. Hopkinson • Hutton • Huyett • Kalodner • Kane • Kelly • Kirkpatrick • Kraft • Lewis (DP) • J.W. Lord • J.S. Lord • Luongo • Maris • Masterson • McGlynn • McGranery • McKeehan • McPherson • Newcomer • Peters (DP) • Randall • Rendell • Scirica • Scuderi • Thompson • Troutman • Van Antwerpen • Van Dusen • Waldman • Weiner • Welsh • Wood |
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The Pennsylvania Project on Judgepedia
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