United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee

• Court
• Judges

Western District of Tennessee Sixth Circuit Chief: Jon McCalla Judges: 5 Posts: 5 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Anderson • Breen • John T. Fowlkes • Mays Senior Judges Todd Magistrate Judges Vescovo • Pham • Bryant 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 Western District of Tennessee is the United States district court for western Tennessee.

The United States Attorney of the Western District of Tennessee represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals based in downtown Cincinnati at the Potter A. Stewart Federal Courthouse and Building.

The Western Division's main office is in Memphis, Tennessee.

Vacancy warning level

The United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee's vacancy warning level is currently set at green. The court currently has no vacancies out of their five posts.

Jurisdiction

The Counties of the Western District of Tennessee (click for larger map)

The geographic jurisdiction of the Western District of Tennessee consists of all the following counties in the western part of the state of Tennessee.

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

The Eastern Division, covering Benton, Carroll, Chester, Crockett, Decatur, Dyer, Gibson, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson, Henry, Lake, Madison, McNairy, Obion, Perry and Weakley Counties.

The Western Division, covering Fayette, Lauderdale, Shelby and Tipton Counties.

Court locations for the Western District are located in Memphis, Jackson and Dyersburg, Tennessee.

Tennessee -- along with Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan -- is located within the area covered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals based in Downtown Cincinnati at the Potter A. Stewart Federal Courthouse and Building.

Cases heard

The Western District of Tennessee 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	2356	2033	4389	2028	2361	12.4	10.3	64(4.4%)	.0	42
2009	2269	2048	4317	1991	2326	13.5	11.3	55(3.9%)	.0	39
2008	2076	1917	3993	1745	2248	13.6	11.8	62(4.4%)	.0	42
2007	2293	1816	4109	1999	2110	12.8	11.9	66(5.2%)	.0	49
2006	2316	1902	4218	2009	2209	13.9	11.8	111(7.4%)	.0	31

*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 Western District of Tennessee has three separate courthouses. The Clerk's office is open Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m, excluding Federal holidays. Please consult the chart below for more information:

Branch	Address	Phone number
Eastern Divisional Office	111 South Highland Avenue Room 262 Jackson, TN 38301	(731) 421-9200
Western Divisional Office	167 N. Main Street Room 242 Memphis, TN 38103	(901) 495-1200

History

Court history

The state of Tennessee was organized as a single judicial district with one judgeship on January 31, 1797. This judicial district was not yet assigned to a judicial circuit, and therefore was granted that same jurisdiction as the United States circuit courts, excluding in appeals and writs of error which are the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

The Judiciary Act of 1801 on February 13 removed the district court in Tennessee and then authorized the United States Circuit Court for the Sixth Circuit to hold court in the Eastern District of Tennessee and the Western District of Tennessee. The full jurisdiction of the district and circuit courts was applied to these districts.

The Judiciary Act of 1801 was repealed on March 8, 1802, and thus restored the judicial organization that had remained in effect before 1801. This reestablished the U.S. District Court for the District of Tennessee, with circuit court trial jurisdiction.

On April 29, 1802, Statute 2 Stat. 165 divided the state of Tennessee into the Eastern District of Tennessee and the Western District of Tennessee. One judgeship was assigned to each of the districts.

The act on February 24, 1807 repealed the circuit court jurisdiction of the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern District of Tennessee and the Western District of Tennessee. The districts were assigned to the Seventh Circuit and a United States Circuit Court of the District of Tennessee was established.

Congress assigned the judicial districts of Tennessee to the Eighth Circuit on March 3, 1837. The Middle District of Tennessee was established on June 18, 1839 and the existing judgeship was made to serve all three judicial districts.

On July 15, 1862, Congress assigned the judicial districts of Tennessee to the Sixth Circuit. Over time 4 additional judicial posts were added to the Western District of Tennessee for a total of 5 current posts.

Judicial posts

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

Year	Statute	Total Seats
April 29, 1802	2 Stat. 165	1
June 14, 1878	20 Stat. 132	1
May 19, 1961	75 Stat. 80	2
June 2, 1970	84 Stat. 294	3
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	4
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	5

Notable cases

This page is missing notable case information.

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

Federal courthouse

Two separate courthouses serve the Western District of Tennessee.

Major news

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

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

External links

• United States District Court for the District of Western Tenneesee
• United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee
• Judges of the Western District of Tennessee
• Opinions of the Western District of Tennessee

References

Western District of Tennessee Sixth Circuit Chief: Jon McCalla Judges: 5 Posts: 5 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Anderson • Breen • John T. Fowlkes • Mays Senior Judges Todd Magistrate Judges Vescovo • Pham • Bryant Former Judges

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

Since the court was established, 22 Article III federal judges have served on it.

Active judges

Article III judges

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

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Chief Judge Jon McCalla	1947	Memphis, TN	H.W. Bush	2/10/1992 - Present	2008 - Present	New Seat|104 Stat. 5089	U. of Tennessee, B.S., 1969	Vanderbilt U. Law School, J.D., 1974
Judge Samuel Mays	1948	Memphis, TN	W. Bush	5/10/2002 - Present		Jerome Turner	Amherst College, B.A., 1970	Yale U. School of Law, J.D., 1973
Judge Daniel Breen	1950	Jackson, TN	W. Bush	3/14/2003 - Present		Julia Gibbons	Spring Hill College, B.A., 1972	U. of Tennessee, J.D., 1975
Judge Stanley Anderson	1953	Lexington, TN	W. Bush	5/21/2008 - Present		James D. Todd	U. of Tennessee, B.S., 1976	U. of Memphis School of Law, J.D., 1980
Judge John T. Fowlkes			Obama	7/10/2012 - Present		Bernice Donald	Valparaiso University, 1975	University of Denver, 1977

Pending appointments

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

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee 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 James D. Todd	Reagan	7/11/1985 - 5/20/2008	2001 - 2007	5/20/2008 - Present	Lambuth College, B.S., 1965	U. of Mississippi, Master of Combined Sciences, 1968

Magistrate judges

Judge	Active	Bachelors	Law
Magistrate Judge Diane Vescovo	06/15/1995 - Present	U. of Virginia, B.A., 1977	U. of Memphis Law, J.D., 1980
Magistrate Judge Tu Pham	04/21/2003 - Present	Tulane U., B.A., 1993	U. of Illinois Law, J.D., 1996
Magistrate Judge Edward Bryant	12/15/2008 - Present	U. of Mississippi	U. of Mississippi
Magistrate Judge Charmiane Claxton

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Robert McRae	1979 - 1986
Odell Horton	1987 - 1994
Bailey Brown	1966 - 1979
Marion Boyd	1961 - 1966
Julia Gibbons	1994 - 2000
James D. Todd	2001 - 2007

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. Bernice Donald
2. John McNairy
3. Morgan Welles Brown
4. Julia Gibbons
5. Harry Wellford
6. West Hughes Humphreys
7. Connally Findlay Trigg
8. Eli Shelby Hammond
9. John Ethridge McCall
10. John William Ross
11. Harry Bennett Anderson
12. John Donelson Martin
13. Marion Boyd
14. Bailey Brown
15. Odell Horton
16. Robert McRae
17. Jerome Turner