United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Share this Court:

Northern District of Texas Fifth Circuit Chief: Sidney Fitzwater Judges: 12 Posts: 12 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Boyle • Cummings• Godbey• Kinkeade• Lindsay• Lynn• McBryde• Means • O'Connor •Robinson •Solis Senior Judges Fish • Furgeson• Maloney Magistrate Judges Averitte • Bleil • Kaplan • Koenig • Ramirez • Roach • Sanderson • Stickney Former Judges

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 Northern District of Texas is a United States district court. The court convenes in Dallas with divisions in Fort Worth, Amarillo, Abilene, Lubbock, San Angelo and Wichita Falls. It has jurisdiction over 100 counties in the Northern and Central parts of the state of Texas.

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

When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals based in Downtown New Orleans at the John Minor Wisdom Federal Courthouse.

Vacancy warning level

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas's vacancy warning level is currently set at green. The court currently has zero vacancies out of their twelve posts. There are no pending appointments for the district.

Jurisdiction

The Counties of Texas (click for larger map)

The jurisdiction of the Northern District of Texas consists of all the counties in the northern part of the state of Texas. There are seven court divisions, each covering the following counties: The Abilene Division, covering Callahan, Eastland, Fisher, Haskell, Howard, Jones, Mitchell, Nolan, Shackelford, Stephens, Stonewall, Taylor, and Throckmorton Counties The Amarillo Division, covering Armstrong, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Childress, Collingsworth, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Donley, Gray, Hall, Hansford, Hartley, Hemphill, Hutchinson, Lipscomb, Moore, Ochiltree, Oldham, Parmer, Potter, Randall, Roberts, Sherman, Swisher, and Wheeler Counties The Dallas Division, covering Dallas, Ellis, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Navarro, and Rockwall Counties The Fort Worth Division, covering Comanche, Erath, Hood, Jack, Palo Pinto, Parker, Tarrant, and Wise Counties The Lubbock Division, covering Bailey, Borden, Cochran, Crosby, Dawson, Dickens, Floyd, Gaines, Garza, Hale, Hockley, Kent, Lamb, Lubbock, Lynn, Motley, Scurry, Terry, Yoakum Counties The San Angelo Division, covering Brown, Coke, Coleman, Concho, Crockett, Glasscock, Irion, Menard, Mills, Reagan, Runnels, Schleicher, Sterling, Sutton, and Tom Green Counties The Wichita Falls Division, covering Archer, Baylor, Clay, Cottle, Eastland, Foard, Hardeman, King, Knox, Montague, Wichita, Wilbarger, and Young The court convenes in Dallas with divisions in Fort Worth, Amarillo, Abilene, Lubbock, San Angelo and Wichita Falls. It has jurisdiction over 100 counties in the Northern and Central parts of the state of Texas. When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals based in Downtown New Orleans at the John Minor Wisdom Federal Courthouse.

Cases heard

The Northern District of Texas 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	4110	5629	9739	5235	4504	5.9	6.5	89(2.4%)	.0	26
2009	3903	5279	9182	5074	4108	7.0	7.0	47(1.4%)	.0	23
2008	3888	5076	8964	5109	3855	7.4	7.4	59(1.9%)	.1	22
2007	4326	5312	9638	5580	4058	6.9	6.8	42(1.4%)	.0	19
2006	4390	5646	10036	5745	4291	7.2	7.4	146(4.3%)	.0	24

*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 Northern District of Texas has seven separate courthouses. The Clerk's office is open Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays. Please consult the chart below for more information:

Branch	Address	Phone number	Hours
Abilene Division	341 Pine Street, 2008 Abilene, TX 79601	(325) 677-6311	8:30 a.m. - 12 Noon 1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Amarillo Division	205 E. Fifth Street, 133 Amarillo, TX 79101-1559	(806) 468-3800	8:30 a.m. - 12 Noon 1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Dallas Division (Headquarters)	1100 Commerce Street, Room 1452 Dallas, TX 75242	(214) 753-2200	8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Ft. Worth Division	501 West 10th Street, Room 310 Fort Worth, TX 76102-3673	(817) 850-6600	8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Lubbock Division	1205 Texas Avenue, Room 209 Lubbock, TX 79401-4091	(806) 472-1900	8:30 a.m. - 12 Noon 1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
San Angelo Division	33 E. Twohig Avenue, 202 San Angelo, TX 76903-6451	(325) 655-4506	8:30 a.m. - 12 Noon 1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m
Wichita Falls Division	1000 Lamar Street, 203 Wichita Falls, TX 76301	(817) 850-6600	8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

^[1]

History

Court history

On December 29, 1845, the state of Texas was organized as one judicial district. One judgeship was authorized for this U.S. district court, and being that it was not assigned to a judicial circuit, the district court was granted the same jurisdiction as the United States circuit courts, excluding appeals and writs of error, which are the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

Texas was divided into two judicial districts, known as the Eastern District of Texas and the Western District of Texas, on February 21, 1857. One judgeship was authorized for the court in each district. Circuit court jurisdiction of the district court in Texas was repealed on July 15, 1862, and a U.S. circuit court was established for the district and assigned over to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Texas was then assigned to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on July 23, 1866.

The Northern District of Texas was established on February 24, 1879, with one judgeship authorized to the district court. On February 9, 1898, a temporary judgeship was authorized to the Northern District of Texas. However, the statute provided that any vacancy in the existing judgeship would not be filled.

A few years later, on March 11, 1902, the Southern District of Texas was established and one judgeship was authorized to this district court.

The Northern District of Texas had 10 judicial posts added over time for a total of 12 current posts.^[2]

Judicial posts

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

Year	Statute	Total Seats
December 29, 1845	9 Stat. 1	1
February 24, 1879	20 Stat. 318	1
February 9, 1898	30 Stat. 240	2
1898	Post Expired	1
February 26, 1919	40 Stat. 1183	2
September 14, 1922	42 Stat. 837	3(1 Temporary)
August 19, 1935	49 Stat. 659	3
May 19, 1961	75 Stat. 80	5
June 2, 1970	84 Stat. 294	6
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	9
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	10
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	12

^[2]

Notable decisions

For a searchable list of opinions, please see Justia.com-Dockets and Filings-Northern District of Texas.

Federal courthouse

Seven separate courthouses serve the Northern District of Texas.

Major news

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

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

External links

• United States District Court for the District of Northern Texas
• United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas
• Opinions of the Northern District of Texas
• Judges of the Northern District of Texas

References

Share this Court:

Northern District of Texas Fifth Circuit Chief: Sidney Fitzwater Judges: 12 Posts: 12 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Boyle • Cummings• Godbey• Kinkeade• Lindsay• Lynn• McBryde• Means • O'Connor •Robinson •Solis Senior Judges Fish • Furgeson• Maloney Magistrate Judges Averitte • Bleil • Kaplan • Koenig • Ramirez • Roach • Sanderson • Stickney Former Judges

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 Northern District of Texas has 12 posts and 0 vacancies. The current Chief Judge is Sidney Fitzwater. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Chief Judge Sidney Fitzwater	1953	Olney, MD	Reagan	3/19/1986 - Current	2007 - Current	Robert Hill	Baylor U., B.A., 1975	Baylor U. School of Law, J.D., 1976
Judge Mary Lou Robinson	1926	Dodge City, KS	Carter	4/26/1979 - Current		New Seat|92 Stat. 1629	U. of Texas, B.A., 1948	U. of Texas School of Law, LL.B., 1950
Judge Sam Cummings	1944	Lubbock, TX	Reagan	12/9/1987 - Current		Halbert O. Woodward	Texas Tech U., B.B.A., 1967	Baylor U. School of Law, J.D., 1970
Judge Jorge Solis	1951	San Ygnacio, TX	H.W. Bush	9/16/1991 - Current		Robert Porter	McMurry College, B.A., 1973	U. of Texas School of Law, J.D., 1976
Judge Terry Means	1948	Roswell, NM	H.W. Bush	11/5/1991 - Current		David Belew	Southern Methodist U., B.A., 1971	Southern Methodist U. School of Law, J.D., 1974
Judge Sam Lindsay	1951	San Antonio, TX	Clinton	3/17/1998 - Current		New Seat|104 Stat. 5089	St. Mary`s U., B.A., 1974	U. of Texas School of Law, J.D., 1977
Judge Barbara Lynn	1952	Binghamton, NY	Clinton	11/22/1999 - Current		Harold Sanders	U. of Virginia, B.A., 1973	Southern Methodist U., J.D., 1976
Judge David Godbey	1957	Temple, TX	W. Bush	8/2/2002 - Current		Robert Maloney	Southern Methodist U., B.S.E.E./B.S., 1978	Harvard Law School, J.D., 1982
Judge James Kinkeade	1951	Denton, TX	W. Bush	11/15/2002 - Current		Elton Kendall	Baylor U., B.A., 1973	Baylor Law School, J.D., 1974
Judge Jane Boyle	1954	Sharon, PA	W. Bush	6/29/2004 - Current		Jerry Buchmeyer	U. of Texas, B.S., 1977	Southern Methodist U. School of Law, J.D., 1981
Judge Reed O'Connor	1965	Houston, TX	W. Bush	11/21/2007 - Current		Joe Fish	U. of Houston, B.S., 1986	South Texas College of Law, J.D., 1989
Judge John McBryde	1931	Jackson, MS	H.W. Bush	8/7/1990 - Current		Eldon Mahon	Texas Christian University, B.S., 1953	U. of Texas School of Law, LL.B., 1956

Pending appointments

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

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas 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 Joe Fish	Reagan	2/24/1983 - 11/12/2007	2002 - 2007	11/12/2007 - Current	Yale College, B.A., 1965	Yale Law School, LL.B., 1968
Senior Judge Robert Maloney	Reagan	10/17/1985 - 8/31/2000		8/31/2000 - Current	Southern Methodist U., B.B.A., 1956	Southern Methodist U. School of Law, J.D., 1960

Magistrate judges

Judge	Active	Bachelors	Law
Magistrate Judge Kerry Roach	1980 - Current	U. of Oklahoma, B.A., 1965	U. of Texas Law, L.L.B, 1968
Magistrate Judge Clinton Averitte	1987 - Current	U. of Texas, B.S., 1971	Southern Methodist U. Law, J.D., 1974
Magistrate Judge Irma Ramirez	2002 - Current	West Texas State U., B.A., 1986	Southern Methodist U. Law, J.D., 1991
Magistrate Judge Nancy Koenig	1998 - Current	U. of Texas at Austin, B.A., 1972	Texas Tech U. Law, J.D., 1982
Magistrate Judge Paul Stickney	1998 - Current	U. of South Dakota, B.S., 1978	U. of South Dakota Law, J.D., 1981
Magistrate Judge Jeff Kaplan	1994 - Current	Vanderbilt U., B.A., 1978	Southern Methodist U. Law, J.D., 1981
Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cureton	2010 - Current	Baylor U., B.A., 1990	Baylor U. Law, J.D., 1993
Magistrate Judge Renee Toliver	2010 - Current	Howard U., B.A., 1981	U. of Texas Law, J.D., 1984
Magistrate Judge Scott Frost	2011 - Current	Angelo State U., B.A., 1984	Texas Tech U. Law, J.D., 1987

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Halbert Woodward	1977 - 1986
William Taylor	1973 - 1977
Robert Porter	1986 - 1989
Joe Estes	1959 - 1972
Joseph Dooley	1959 - 1959
Leo Brewster	1972 - 1973
Thomas Whitfield Davidson	1954 - 1959
William Hawley Atwell	1948 - 1954
Joe Fish	2002 - 2007
Jerry Buchmeyer	1995 - 2001
Harold Sanders	1989 - 1995

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