United States District Court for the District of Wyoming

• Court
• Judges

District of Wyoming Tenth Circuit Chief: Nancy D. Freudenthal Judges: 3 Posts: 3 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Johnson • Skavdahl Senior Judges Brimmer Magistrate Judges Smith 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 Wyoming is a United States district court.

Vacancy warning level

The United States District Court for the District of Wyoming's vacancy warning level is currently set at green. The court currently has no vacancies, with all of the posts currently filled.

Jurisdiction

The Counties of Wyoming (click for larger map)

The jurisdiction of the District of Wyoming consists of all the counties in the state of Wyoming, including those portions of Yellowstone National Park situated in Montana and Idaho.

The court has locations in Cheyenne and Casper.

The United States Attorney for the District of Wyoming represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court.

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 Wyoming 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	573	652	1225	642	583	5.4	9.2	6(2.1%)	7.1	25
2009	609	633	1242	668	574	5.8	10.8	11(3.6%)	12	18
2008	594	572	1166	561	605	7.4	7.8	12(3.6%)	12	20
2007	658	570	1228	628	600	7.0	12.4	13(4.1%)	12	17
2006	596	606	1202	566	636	7.0	9.4	97(25.5%)	.1	12

*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 Wyoming has four separate courthouses. Stephan Harris is the official clerk of court. Clerks' offices are located at the Cheyenne and Casper divisions and are open Monday through Friday from 8:30am - 12:00pm and 1:00pm - 5:00pm MST, excluding federal holidays. Please consult the chart below for more information:

Branch	Address	Mailing Address	Phone
Cheyenne Division	Joseph C. O'Mahoney Federal Center 2120 Capitol Avenue Room 2131 Cheyenne, WY 82001	Joseph C. O'Mahoney Federal Center 2120 Capitol Avenue 2nd Floor Cheyenne, WY 82001-3658	(307) 433-2120
Casper Division	Ewing T. Kerr Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse 111 South Wolcott Casper, WY 82601	Ewing T. Kerr Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse 111 South Wolcott Casper, WY 82601-2534	(307) 232-2620
Yellowstone Division at Mammoth	Yellowstone Justice Center 105 Mammoth Mammoth, WY 82190	Yellowstone Justice Center P.O. Box 387 Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190	(307) 344-2569
Jackson Division	Clifford P. Hansen Federal Courthouse 145 E. Simpson (no mail to this address) Jackson, WY 83001	Honorable James K. Lubing P. O. Box 4117 Jackson, WY 83001	(307) 733-4126

History

Court history

The District of Wyoming was established by Congress on July 10, 1890 with one post to cover the entire state. Over time 2 additional judicial posts were added for a total of 3 current posts.

Judicial posts

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

Year	Statute	Total Seats
July 10, 1890	26 Stat. 222	1
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	2
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	3

Notable cases

This page is missing notable case information.

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

Major news

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

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

External links

• United States District Court for the District of Wyoming Official Website
• Opinions of the District of Wyoming
• Judges of the District of Wyoming

References

District of Wyoming Tenth Circuit Chief: Nancy D. Freudenthal Judges: 3 Posts: 3 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Johnson • Skavdahl Senior Judges Brimmer Magistrate Judges Smith Former Judges

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

Active judges

Article III judges

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

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Judge Alan Johnson	1939	Cheyenne, WY	Reagan	12/17/1985 - Present	1992 - 1999	New Seat|98 Stat. 333	Vanderbilt U., B.A., 1961	U. of Wyoming Law, J.D., 1964
Judge Scott W. Skavdahl	1966	Lincoln, NE	Obama	11/3/2011 - Present		William F. Downes	University of Wyoming, B.S., 1989	University of Wyoming School of Law, J.D., 1992
Chief Judge Nancy D. Freudenthal	1954	Cody, WY	Obama	5/6/2010 - Present	2011 - Present	Clarence Brimmer	U. of Wyoming, B.A., 1976	U. of Wyoming Law, J.D., 1980

Pending appointments

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

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States District Court for the District of Wyoming has 1 judge 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 Clarence Brimmer	Ford	9/16/1975 - 9/27/2006	1986 - 1992	9/27/2006 - Present	University of Michigan, B.A., 1944	University of Michigan Law School, J.D., 1947

Magistrate judges

Judge	Active	Bachelors	Law
Magistrate Judge David C. Smith	07/01/2012 - Present

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Alan Johnson	1992 - 1999
William Downes	1999 - 2011
Clarence Brimmer	1986 - 1992

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

1. William Downes
2. John Alden Riner
3. Thomas Blake Kennedy
4. Ewing Kerr