United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa

	Northern District of Iowa
	Eighth Circuit
	;
	Active judges
	Bennett
	Senior Judges
	O'Brien • McManus
	Magistrate Judges
Chief Magistrate:	Paul Zoss
	Scoles
	Former Judges

	Northern District of Iowa
	Eighth Circuit
	;
	Active judges
	Bennett
	Senior Judges
	O'Brien • McManus
	Magistrate Judges
Chief Magistrate:	Paul Zoss
	Scoles
	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 Northern District of Iowa is a United States district court. It has jurisdiction over fifty-two of Iowa's ninety-nine counties. It is subject to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Presently, the court has two district judges, Chief Judge Linda R. Reade and Judge Mark W. Bennett. There are also two senior judges, Edward J. McManus and Donald E. O'Brien and two Magistrate Judges, Chief Magistrate Judge Paul A. Zoss and Magistrate Judge Jon Stuart Scoles.

It is headquartered in Cedar Rapids, with satellite facilities in Fort Dodge and Sioux City. Matt M. Dummermuth is the current United States Attorney. When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals based in Downtown St. Louis at the Thomas F. Eagleton Federal Courthouse and Building.

Vacancy warning level

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

Jurisdiction

The Counties of the Northern District of Iowa (click for larger map)

The geographic jurisdiction of the Northern District of Iowa consists of all the following counties in the northern part of the state of Iowa.

When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals based in Downtown St. Louis at the Thomas F. Eagleton Federal Courthouse and Building.

Cases heard

The Northern District of Iowa 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	625	973	1598	900	698	7.7	7.0	14(3.0%)	.0	51
2009	676	917	1593	968	625	8.6	8.6	12(2.7%)	.0	54
2008	692	1210	1902	1215	687	2.3	8.9	23(4.9%)	.0	70
2007	861	950	1811	1104	707	8.2	9.0	14(3.1%)	.0	45
2006	890	1024	1914	1055	859	9.2	10.7	37(6.8%)	.0	44

^*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 Iowa has two 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
Cedar Rapids Division	U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa 4200 C Street SW Cedar Rapids, IA 52404	(319)-286-2300	M-F 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. M-F 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Sioux City Division	US District Court for the Northern District of Iowa 320 Sixth Street Sioux City, IA 51101	(712)-233-3900	M-F 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

^[1]

History

Court history

The District of Iowa was established by Congress on March 3, 1845 with one post to cover the entire state. Since the District of Iowa was not yet assigned to a judicial circuit, it was granted the same jurisdiction as the United States circuit courts, excluding appeals and writs of error, which are the jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court.

On July 15, 1862, Statute 12 Stat. 576 repealed the circuit court jurisdiction of the District of Iowa and instead established a United States circuit court in the district, and then assigned the district over to the Ninth Circuit. Statute 14 Stat. 209 on July 23, 1866 reorganized the circuits and assigned the District of Iowa to the Eighth Circuit.

The state of Iowa was divided into two circuits, the Northern and the Southern, on July 20, 1882 by statute 22 Stat. 172. One judgeship was assigned to each district. Over time 1 additional judicial post was added for a total of 2 current posts.^[2]

Judicial posts

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

Year	Statute	Total Seats
March 3, 1845	5 Stat. 789	1
July 20, 1882	22 Stat. 172	1
May 19, 1961	75 Stat. 80	2
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	2

^[2]

Notable cases

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

• Illegal worker raid case Judge(s):Linda Reade
*US v. Rubashkin 08-CR-1324-LRR

Judge Reade is presiding in the case of Sholom Rubashkin, a top manager of Agriprocessors, Inc based in Pottsville, Iowa. Rubashkin was charged with immigration, bank, and wire fraud after a May 2008 raid was conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). His trial is set for October 13, 2009, but the judge ruled that Rubashkin can leave Iowa on supervised release to pray at the grave site of a Jewish Orthodox leader in New York.^[3]

Rubashkin was found guilty in November of 2009 on 86 counts of financial fraud. A sentencing hearing was held on April 29, 2010, in which federal prosecutors asked to sentence Rubashkin to twenty-five years in prison--less than federal guidelines calling for life imprisonment. Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa, Pete Deegan said because Rubashkin is not a violent criminal, he did not request a life sentence during the hearing. Rubashkin's attorney, Guy Cook, asked for a five to six year sentence and to serve his sentence in an upstate New York facility that caters to Jewish inmates.

Judge Reade will issue her decision on the sentence on May 27, 2010. ^[4]

Federal courthouse

Two separate courthouses serve the Northern District of Iowa.

Major news

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

External links

References

↑ Court Clerk Information(Select the appropriate division for info and map)
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 FJC History of the Northern District of Iowa
↑ "WQAD" Federal judge lets former kosher slaughterhouse manager leave Iowa, pray at New York grave, September 15, 2009
↑ Google News "25-year term sought in Iowa slaughterhouse case", April 29, 2010

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 Northern District of Iowa has 2 posts and 0 vacancies. The current Chief Judge is Linda Reade. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Chief Judge Linda Reade	1948	Sioux Falls, SD	W. Bush	11/26/2002 - Present	2006 - Present	Michael Melloy	Drake U., B.A., 1970	Drake U. Law School, J.D., 1980
Judge Mark Bennett	1950	Milwaukee, WI	Clinton	August 26, 1994 - Present	1999 - 2006	Donald O'Brien	Gustavus Adolphus College, B.A., 1972	Drake U. Law School, J.D., 1975

Pending appointments

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

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa has 2 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 Edward McManus	Kennedy	7/16/1962 - 2/9/1985	1962 - 1985	2/9/1985 - Present	U. of Iowa, B.A., 1940	U. of Iowa College of Law, J.D., 1942
Senior Judge Donald O'Brien	Carter	10/5/1978 - 12/30/1992	1985 - 1992	12/30/1992 - Present		Creighton U. School of Law, LL.B., 1948

Magistrate judges

Judge	Active	Bachelors	Law
Magistrate Judge Jon Scoles	03/20/1997 - Present	U. of Northern Iowa, B.A., 1973	U. of Iowa, J.D., 1979

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Henry Graven	1961 - 1961
Michael Melloy	1992 - 1999
Mark Bennett	1999 - 2006
Donald O'Brien	1985 - 1992
Edward McManus	1962 - 1985

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.