United States District Court for the District of Montana

	District of Montana
	Ninth Circuit
	Active judges
	Christensen • Haddon
	Senior Judges
	Lovell • Molloy • Shanstrom
	Magistrate Judges
	Strong • Ostby • Lynch
	Former Judges

	District of Montana
	Ninth Circuit
	Active judges
	Christensen • Haddon
	Senior Judges
	Lovell • Molloy • Shanstrom
	Magistrate Judges
	Strong • Ostby • Lynch
	Former Judges

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Court
Judges

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(Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.)
0%	0%-10%
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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 Montana is the United States district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Montana (except the part of the state within Yellowstone National Park, which is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming). The court is located in Billings, Butte, Great Falls, Helena, and Missoula.

The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Montana represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. The current U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana is William W. Mercer. Appeals from the District of Montana go to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Vacancy warning level

The United States District Court for the District of Montana's vacancy warning level is currently set at green. The last vacancy on the court was filled on December 5, 2011.

Jurisdiction

The Counties of Montana (click for larger map)

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

The court is located in Billings, Butte, Great Falls, Helena, and Missoula.

When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals based in Downtown San Francisco at the James R. Browning Federal Courthouse.

Cases heard

The District of Montana 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	1975	2200	4175	2308	1867	10.1	8.7	104(7.1%)	0	29
2009	2018	2172	4190	2201	1989	11.2	9.2	61(4%)	0	32
2008	1983	2187	4170	2143	2027	2018	8.8	9.1	6.8	29
2007	1896	2293	4189	2197	1992	8.0	8.6	134(9.3%)	0	28
2006	2041	2300	4341	2464	1877	8.3	9.5	125(9%)	0	33

^*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 Montana has five separate courthouses. The Clerk's office is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m, excluding Federal holidays. Please consult the chart below for more information:

Branch	Address	Phone number
U.S. District Court Billings James F. Battin Federal Building	316 N. 26th Street Billings, MT 59101	Main (406) 247-7000 Fax (406) 247-7008
U.S. District Court Butte Mike Mansfield Federal Courthouse	400 N. Main Butte, MT 59701	Main (406) 782-0432 Fax (406) 782-9045
U.S. District Court Great Falls Missouri River Federal Courthouse	125 Central Avenue West Great Falls, MT 59404	Main (406) 727-1922 Fax (406) 727-7648
U.S. District Court Helena Paul G. Hatfield Federal Courthouse	901 Front Street Helena, MT 59626	Main (406) 441-1355 Fax (406) 441-1357
U.S. District Court Missoula Russell Smith Federal Courthouse	201 E. Broadway Missoula, MT 59802	Main (406) 542-7260 Fax (406) 542-7272

^[1]

History

Court history

The District of Montana was established by Congress on February 22, 1889 with one post to cover the entire state. Over time 2 additional judicial posts were added for a total of 3 current posts.^[2]

Judicial posts

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

Year	Statute	Total Seats
February 22, 1889	25 Stat. 676	1
September 14, 1922	42 Stat. 837	2 (1 temporary)
May 31, 1938	52 Stat. 584	2 (temporary post expired)
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	3

^[2]

Notable decisions

For a searchable list of opinions, please see Justia.com-Montana District Court Cases.

Federal courthouse

Five separate courthouses serve the District of Montana.

Major news

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

External links

References

↑ Court Clerk Information(Select the appropriate division for info and map)
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 FJC History of the District of Montana

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

Active judges

Article III judges

See: Article III federal judge
The United States District Court for the District of Montana has 3 posts and 0 vacancies. The current Chief Judge is Richard Cebull. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Chief Judge Richard Cebull	1944	Billings, MT	W. Bush	7/25/2001 - Current	2008 - Current	Jack Shanstrom	Montana State U., B.S., 1966	U. of Montana Law School, J.D., 1969
Judge Sam Haddon	1937	West Monroe, LA	W. Bush	7/25/2001 - Current		Charles Lovell	Rice U., B.S., 1959	U. of Montana, School of Law, J.D., 1965
Judge Dana Christensen	1951	New York, NY	Obama	12/5/2011 - Current		Donald Molloy	Stanford U., B.A., 1973	U. of Montana Law, J.D., 1976

Pending appointments

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

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States District Court for the District of Montana has 3 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 Donald Molloy	Clinton	8/1/1996 - 8/16/2011	2001 - 2008	8/16/2011 - Current	U. of Montana, B.A., 1968	U. of Montana School of Law, J.D., 1976
Senior Judge Charles Lovell	Reagan	4/4/1985 - 6/14/2000		6/14/2000 - Current	U. of Montana, B.S., 1952	U. of Montana School of Law, J.D., 1959
Senior Judge Jack Shanstrom	H.W. Bush	5/14/1990 - 1/30/2001	1996 - 2001	1/30/2001 - Current	U. of Montana, B.A., 1956	U. of Montana School of Law, LL.B., 1957

Magistrate judges

Judge	Active	Bachelors	Law
Magistrate Judge Keith Strong	1/6/2007 - Current	U. of Montana, B.A., 1971	U. of Montana School of Law, J.D., 1974
Magistrate Judge Carolyn Ostby	2/25/2002 - Current
Magistrate Judge Jerry Lynch

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Russell Smith	1968 - 1978
William Murray	1957 - 1965
William Jameson	1965 - 1968
James Battin	1978 - 1990
Charles Nelson Pray	1948 - 1957
Jack Shanstrom	1996 - 2001
Donald Molloy	2001 - 2008
Paul Hatfield	1990 - 1996

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.