United States District Court for the District of Utah

	District of Utah
	Tenth Circuit
	;
	Active judges
	Benson • Nuffer • Shelby • Waddoups
	Senior Judges
	Campbell • Jenkins • Kimball • Sam
	Magistrate Judges
Chief Magistrate:	Samuel Alba
	Wells • Braithwaite • Nuffer • Warner
	Former Judges

	District of Utah
	Tenth Circuit
	;
	Active judges
	Benson • Nuffer • Shelby • Waddoups
	Senior Judges
	Campbell • Jenkins • Kimball • Sam
	Magistrate Judges
Chief Magistrate:	Samuel Alba
	Wells • Braithwaite • Nuffer • Warner
	Former Judges

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Court
Judges

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

Contents

1 Court
1.1 Vacancy warning level
1.2 Jurisdiction
1.2.1 Cases heard
1.2.2 Case load
1.3 Clerk's office
1.4 History
1.4.1 Court history
1.4.2 Judicial posts
1.4.3 Notable decisions
1.4.4 Federal courthouse
1.5 Major news
1.6 See also
1.7 External links
1.8 References
2 Judges

The United States District Court for the District of Utah is a United States district court. The court is based in Salt Lake City with another courtroom in Ogden.

The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Utah represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court.

Vacancy warning level

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

Jurisdiction

The Counties of Utah (click for larger map)

The jurisdiction of the District of Utah consists of all the counties in the state of Utah.

There are seven court divisions, each covering the following counties:

The Central Division, covering Beaver, Carbon, Daggett, Duchesne, Emery, Garfield, Grand, Iron, Juab, Kane, Millard, Piute, Salt Lake, San Juan, Sanpete, Sevier, Summit, Tooele, Uintah, Utah, Wasatch, Washington and Wayne Counties

The Northern Division, covering Box Elder, Cache, Davis, Morgan, Rich and Weber Counties

The court is based in Salt Lake City with another courtroom in Ogden.

When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals based in Downtown Denver at the Byron White Federal Courthouse.

Cases heard

The District of Utah 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	2058	2552	4610	2347	2263	6.1	8.0	108(6.5%)	10.0	19
2009	1871	2227	4098	2024	2074	7.3	9.3	98(6.5%)	0	23
2008	1795	2173	3968	2094	1874	7.1	8.5	95(7.3%)	10.7	20
2007	1959	2120	4079	2276	1803	7.8	9.5	81(6.5%)	0	25
2006	2074	2227	4301	2345	1956	7.8	10.3	92(6.9%)	0	21

^*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 Utah has two separate courthouses but only the Salt Lake City division is staffed. D. Mark Jones is the official clerk of court. The Clerk's office is open Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m, excluding Federal holidays. The official court phone number is (801) 524-6100. Please consult the chart below for more information:

Branch	Address	Mailing Address
Salt Lake City Division	Frank E. Moss U.S. Courthouse 350 South Main Street Salt Lake City, UT 84101-2106
Ogden Division	U.S. Post Office and Courthouse 298 W. 24th St. Ogden UT 84401	Frank E. Moss U.S. Courthouse 350 South Main Street Salt Lake City, UT 84101-2106

History

Court history

The District of Utah was established by Congress on July 16, 1894 with one post to cover the entire state. Over time 4 additional judicial posts were added for a total of 5 current posts.^[1]

Judicial posts

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

Year	Statute	Total Seats
July 16, 1894	28 Stat. 107	1
February 10, 1954	68 Stat. 8	2(Temporary)
May 19, 1961	75 Stat. 80	2(Made Permanent)
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	3
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	4
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	5

^[1]

Notable cases

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

• FLDS property trust case Judge(s):Dee Benson

In 2005 the State of Utah took control of the FLDS Church’s United Effort Plan Trust because of allegations of mismanagement by sect leader Warren Jeffs. Last February, Judge Benson ruled that the State’s takeover was unconstitutional, and violated the group’s First Amendment rights to practice their religion. Benson’s decision April 8 gave back temporary control to the FLDS Church. ^[2]

His decision made it the first time since 2005 that the polygamous sect would control the $110 million trust that holds most of the land, homes, and businesses in Colorado City, Arizona and Hilldale, Utah, as well as some Canadian properties.^[2]

Third District Judge Denise Lindberg issued an order saying the state would maintain control over the trust, and ordered Bruce Wisan, the man overseeing the trust for the state, to resist the federal order. Lindberg told the federal court that returning the control back to the church would “cause irreparable harm to those who, directly or indirectly, have relied on the decisions of the state court over the nearly six years that Judge Lindberg has overseen the trust at issue.”^[2]

As a result, Judge Benson ordered Judge Lindberg to appear in his courtroom on April 15. He wanted an explanation of her decision admonishing the trust administrator of the FLDS to not comply with Benson's federal order giving the group temporary control of a property trust.^[2]

Judge Lindberg refused, leading Judge Benson to threaten to use the U.S. Marshals to haul her into his courtroom.^[3]

Federal courthouse

Major news

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

External links

References

Share this Court:

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

Contents

1 Court
2 Judges
2.1 Active Judges
2.1.1 Article III judges
2.1.2 Pending appointments
2.1.3 Senior judges
2.2 Past judges
2.2.1 Former Chief judges
2.2.2 Former judges

Since the court was established, 15 Article III federal judges have served on it.^[1]

Active judges

Article III judges

See: Article III federal judge
The United States District Court for the District of Utah has 5 posts and 0 vacancies. The current Chief Judge is Brian Stewart. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Judge Dee Benson	1948	Sandy, UT	H.W. Bush	9/16/1991 - Present	1999 - 2006	New Seat\|104 Stat. 5089	Brigham Young U., B.A., 1973	Brigham Young U. Law, J.D., 1976
Chief Judge Brian Stewart	1948	Logan, UT	Clinton	11/11/1999 - Present	2011 - Present	Thomas Greene	Utah State U., B.S., 1972	U. of Utah Law, J.D.
Judge Clark Waddoups	1946	Arco, ID	W. Bush	10/21/2008 - Present		Paul Cassell	Brigham Young U., 1970	U. of Utah Law, J.D., 1973
Judge David Nuffer	1952	Portland, OR	Obama	3/22/2012 - Present		Dale Kimball	Brigham Young U., 1975	Brigham Young U. Law, 1978
Judge Robert Shelby	March 13, 1970	Wisconsin	Obama	9/22/2012-present		Tena Campbell	Utah State U., B.A., 1944	U. of Virginia Law, J.D., 1948

Pending appointments

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

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States District Court for the District of Utah has 4 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 Tena Campbell	Clinton	6/30/1995 - 1/1/2011	2006 - 2011	1/1/2011 - Present	University of Idaho, B.A., 1967	Arizona State University College of Law, J.D., 1977
Senior Judge Bruce Jenkins	Carter	9/22/1978 - 9/30/1994	1984 - 1993	9/30/1994 - Present	University of Utah, B.A., 1949	University of Utah College of Law, LL.B., 1952
Senior Judge David Sam	Reagan	10/16/1985 - 11/1/1999	1997 - 1999	11/1/1999 - Present	Brigham Young University, B.S., 1957	University of Utah College of Law, J.D., 1960
Senior Judge Dale Kimball	Clinton	10/24/1997 - 11/30/2009		11/30/2009 - Present	Brigham Young University, B.A., 1964	University of Utah College of Law, J.D., 1967

Magistrate judges

Judge	Active	Bachelors	Law
Magistrate judge Paul Warner	02/19/2006 - Present	Brigham Young U., B.A., 1973	Brigham Young U. Law, J.D., 1976
Magistrate judge Robert Braithwaite	05/07/2003 - Present		U. of Utah Law, J.D., 1976
Chief Magistrate judge Brooke Wells	06/04/2003 - Present	U. of Utah, B.A.	U. of Utah Law, J.D., 1977

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
David Winder	1993 - 1997
Willis Ritter	1954 - 1978
Aldon Anderson	1978 - 1984
Dee Benson	1999 - 2006
David Sam	1997 - 1999
Bruce Jenkins	1984 - 1993
Tena Campbell	2006 - 2011

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.