United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida

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• Judges

Southern District of Florida Eleventh Circuit Chief: Federico Moreno Judges: 17 Posts: 18 Vacancies: 1 Active judges Altonaga • Cohn • Cooke • Dimitrouleas • Graham • Leonard • Marra • Martinez • Middlebrooks • Moore • Rosenbaum • Scola • Seitz • Ungaro • Williams • Zloch Senior Judges Gold • Gonzalez • Huck • Highsmith • Hoeveler • Hurley • King • Ryskamp Magistrate Judges Chief Magistrate: Ted Bandstra Dubé • Palermo • Garber • Vitunac • Johnson • Seltzer • Lynch • Simonton • O'Sullivan • White • Hopkins • Torres • McAliley • Brown • Turnoff • Snow 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 Southern District of Florida is a United States district court. Appeals from the court are directed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Vacancy warning level

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida's vacancy warning level is currently set at blue. The court currently has one vacancy. The most recent confirmation was on July 26, 2012. There are no pending appointment.

Jurisdiction

The Counties of the Southern District of Florida (click for larger map)

The geographic jurisdiction of the Southern District of Florida consists of all the following counties in the southern part of the state of Florida. Broward County Miami-Dade County Highlands County Indian County Martin County Monroe County Okeechobee County Palm Beach County St. Lucie County

The district includes the South Florida metropolitan area of Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and West Palm Beach. It comprises 15,197 square miles and approximately 6.3 million people. Court offices are in Miami, Florida.[1]

The United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. The current United States Attorney for the district is R. Alexander Acosta.

Appeals are handled for the court by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Cases heard

The Southern District of Florida 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	5703	10930	16633	10856	5777	5.3	3.9	63(1.3%)	13.0	26
2009	6035	10639	16674	10775	5899	5.5	4.3	73(1.6%)	7.1	29
2008	5563	9926	15489	9506	5983	5.5	4.6	474(10%)	0	27
2007	6538	9011	15549	9362	6187	5.6	5.0	618(13.7%)	0	22
2006	6948	8511	15459	8979	6480	5.8	6.7	962(16.9%)	0	19

*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 Southern District of Florida has seven separate courthouses, three of which are in Miami, FL, with clerical contacts and directions for each. Please consult the chart below for more information:

Branch	Address	Mailing Address	Phone	Hours
Miami Division	Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. United States Courthouse 400 North Miami Avenue Miami, FL 33128		(305) 523-5100	8:30a.m. - 4:30p.m.
Miami Division	C. Clyde Atkins United States Courthouse 301 North Miami Avenue Miami, FL 33128		(305) 523-5100	8:30a.m. - 4:30p.m.
Miami Division	James Lawrence King Federal Justice Building 99 N.E. Fourth Street Miami, FL 33128		(305) 523-5100	8:30a.m. - 4:30p.m.
Fort Lauderdale Division	U.S. Federal Building and Courthouse 299 East Broward Boulevard #108 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301		(954) 769-5400	8:30a.m. - 4:30p.m.
West Palm Beach Division	Paul G. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse 701 Clematis Street Room 202 West Palm Beach, FL 33401		(561) 803-3400	8:30a.m. - 4:30p.m.
Fort Pierce Division	United States Courthouse 300 South Sixth Street Fort Pierce, FL 34950		(772) 467-2300	8:30a.m. - 4:30p.m.
Key West Division	Sidney M. Aronovitz United States Courthouse 301 Simonton Street Key West, FL 33040		(305)295-8100	8:30a.m. - 4:30p.m.

History

Court history

The District of Florida was established by Congress on March 3, 1845 with one post to cover the entire state. On February 23, 1847 Congress divided the district into the Northern District of Florida and the Southern District of Florida with one judicial post for each district. Over time 17 additional judicial posts were added for a total of 18 current posts.

Judicial posts

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

Year	Statute	Total Seats
March 3, 1845	5 Stat. 788	1
February 23, 1847	9 Stat. 131	1
September 14, 1922	42 Stat. 837	2(Temporary)
January 17, 1929	45 Stat. 1081	3
c1930	Temporary Post Expired	2
June 27, 1930	46 Stat. 820	3
May 24, 1940	54 Stat. 219	4(Temporary)
c1947	Temporary Post Expired	3
August 3, 1949	63 Stat. 493	4
February 10, 1954	68 Stat. 8	5
May 19, 1961	75 Stat. 80	7
July 30, 1962	76 Stat. 247	4
March 18, 1966	80 Stat. 75	5
June 2, 1970	84 Stat. 294	7
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	12
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	15
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	16
December 21, 2000	114 Stat. 2762	17
November 2, 2002	116 Stat. 1758	18

Notable cases

Famous cases that have been heard in the district include Bush v. Gore, United States v. Noriega (the prosecution of the former Manuel Noriega), González v. Reno (the Elián González case), and United States v. José Padilla (the prosecution of José Padilla). For a searchable list of opinions, please see Opinions of the Southern District of Florida.

Federal courthouse

Major news

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

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

External links

• United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida Official Website
• United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Official Website
• The Southern District of Florida Blog, by attorney David Markus
• Opinions of the Southern District of Florida
• Judges of the Southern District of Florida

References

Southern District of Florida Eleventh Circuit Chief: Federico Moreno Judges: 17 Posts: 18 Vacancies: 1 Active judges Altonaga • Cohn • Cooke • Dimitrouleas • Graham • Leonard • Marra • Martinez • Middlebrooks • Moore • Rosenbaum • Scola • Seitz • Ungaro • Williams • Zloch Senior Judges Gold • Gonzalez • Huck • Highsmith • Hoeveler • Hurley • King • Ryskamp Magistrate Judges Chief Magistrate: Ted Bandstra Dubé • Palermo • Garber • Vitunac • Johnson • Seltzer • Lynch • Simonton • O'Sullivan • White • Hopkins • Torres • McAliley • Brown • Turnoff • Snow Former Judges

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

Sixty-one judges have served on the court, according to the Federal Judicial Center. The Court has 18 authorized judgeships, filled by judges appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

Active judges

Article III judges

See: Article III federal judge
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida has 18 posts and 1 vacancy. The current Chief Judge is Federico Moreno. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Chief judge Federico Moreno	1952	Caracas, Venezuela	H.W. Bush	7/16/1990 - Present	2007 - Present	Alcee Hastings	University of Notre Dame, B.A., 1974	University of Miami Law School, J.D., 1978
Judge Donald Graham	1948	Salisbury, NC	H.W. Bush	9/16/1991 - Present		Sidney Aronovitz	West Virginia State College, B.A., 1971	Ohio State U. Law, J.D., 1974
Judge Jose Martinez	1941	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	W. Bush	9/17/2002 - Present		Edward Davis	U. of Miami, B.A., 1962	U. of Miami, J.D., 1965
Judge Marcia Cooke	1954	Sumter, SC	W. Bush	5/18/2004 - Present		Wilkie Ferguson	Georgetown U., B.A., 1975	Wayne State U., J.D., 1977
Judge Cecilia Altonaga	1962	Baltimore, MD	W. Bush	5/7/2003 - Present		Shelby Highsmith	Florida International U., B.A., 1983	Yale Law, 1986
Judge Ursula Ungaro	1951	Miami Beach, FL	H.W. Bush	10/9/1992 - Present		New Seat|104 Stat. 5089	U. of Miami-Florida, B.A., 1973	U. of Florida Law, J.D., 1975
Judge Kevin Moore	1951	Coral Gables, FL	H.W. Bush	2/10/1992 - Present		Eugene Spellman	Florida State U., B.A., 1972	Fordham U. Law, J.D., 1976
Judge William Zloch	1944	Fort Lauderdale, FL	Reagan	11/4/1985 - Present	2000 - 2007	New Seat|98 Stat. 333	University of Notre Dame, B.A., 1966	University of Notre Dame Law, J.D., 1974
Judge Joan Lenard	1952	Amityville, NY	Clinton	12/26/1995 - Present		James King	Roger Williams University, B.A., 1973	Antioch Law (U. of the District of Columbia), J.D., 1976
Judge Donald Middlebrooks	1946	Orlando, FL	Clinton	5/27/1997 - Present		James Kehoe	U. of Florida, B.A., 1968	U. of Florida Law, J.D., 1972
Judge William Dimitrouleas	1951	Lynn, MA	Clinton	5/22/1998 - Present		Norman Roettger	Furman University, B.A., 1973	University of Florida College of Law, J.D., 1975
Judge Kenneth Marra	1951	Queens, NY	W. Bush	9/13/2002 - Present		New Seat|114 Stat. 2762	Stonybrook SUNY, B.A., 1973	Stetson U. Law, J.D., 1977
Judge James Cohn	1048	Montgomery, AL	W. Bush	8/1/2003 - Present		New Seat|116 Stat. 1758	U. of Alabama, B.A., 1971	Samford U. Law, 1974
Judge Robin Rosenbaum			Obama	6/26/2012 - Present		Alan Gold	Coe College, B.A., 1970	Suffolk U. Law, J.D., 1973
Judge Robert N. Scola, Jr.			Obama	10/19/2011 - Present		Paul Huck	Brown U., B.A., 1977	Boston College Law, J.D., 1980
Judge Kathleen M. Williams	1956	Derby, CT	Obama	8/2/2011 - Present		Daniel Hurley	Duke U., B.A., 1978	U. of Miami Law, J.D., 1982

Pending appointments

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida has 0 appointees pending and 1 vacancy. This is a list of the current pending appointees to the court:

Judge	Confirmation	Bachelors	Law
William Thomas (Florida)		Washington and Jefferson College, 1991	Temple University, 1994

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida has 8 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 James King	Nixon	10/19/1970 - 12/20/1992	1984 - 1991	12/20/1992 - Present	U. of Florida, B.A., 1949	U. of Florida Law, J.D., 1953
Senior Judge William Hoeveler	Carter	4/26/1977 - 1/31/1991		1/31/1991 - Present	Bucknell University, B.A., 1947	Harvard Law School, J.D., 1950
Senior Judge Jose Gonzalez	Carter	7/28/1978 - 11/30/1996		11/30/1996 - Present	University of Florida, B.A., 1952	University of Florida, J.D., 1957
Senior Judge Kenneth Ryskamp	Reagan	4/24/1986 - 1/1/2000		1/1/2000- Present	Calvin College, B.A., 1955	University of Miami School of Law, J.D., 1956
Senior Judge Shelby Highsmith	H.W. Bush	9/16/1991 - 3/15/2002		3/15/2002 - Present		University of Kansas, LL.B., 1958
Senior Judge Alan Gold	Clinton	7/1/1997 - 1/10/2011		1/10/2011 - Present	University of Florida, B.A., 1966	Duke University School of Law, J.D., 1969
Senior Judge Daniel Hurley	Clinton	3/11/1994 - 2/24/2009		2/24/2009 - Present	St. Anselm`s College, B.A., 1964	George Washington University Law School, J.D., 1968
Senior Judge Paul Huck	Clinton	7/11/2000 - 8/31/2010		8/31/2010 - Present	University of Florida, B.A., 1962	University of Florida School of Law, J.D., 1965
Senior Judge Patricia Seitz	Clinton	10/1/1998 - 11/16/2012		11/16/2012 - Present	Kansas State U., B.A., 1968	Georgetown U. Law, J.D., 1973

Magistrate judges

Judge	Active	Bachelors	Law
Chief Magistrate Judge Barry Seltzer
Magistrate Judge Frank Lynch, Jr.
Magistrate Judge Andrea Simonton	04/01/1999 - Present	Florida International U., B.S.W., 1973	U. of Miami Law, J.D., 1978
Magistrate Judge John O'Sullivan	04/01/1999 - Present
Magistrate Judge Patrick White	2002 - Present	Colgate U.	Howard U. Law, J.D.
Magistrate Judge James Hopkins	10/15/2003 - Present
Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres	06/2003 - Present
Magistrate Judge Chris McAliley	03/25/2004 - Present	Tufts U., B.A., 1979	New York U. Law, J.D., 1983
Magistrate Judge Peter Palermo	1971 - Present
Magistrate Judge Robert Dube	03/25/1996 - Present
Magistrate Judge Ted Bandstra
Magistrate Judge Barry Garber	10/30/2009 - Present
Magistrate Judge William C. Turnoff	1986 - Present	Franklin and Marshall College, A.B., 1970	Cornell Law, J.D., 1973
Magistrate Judge Lurana S. Snow	03/10/1986 - Present
Magistrate Judge Dave Lee Brannon	02/24/2012 - Present
Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman	07/23/2010 - Present
Magistrate Judge Alicia Otazo-Reyes	04/12/2012 - Present	U. of Miami, B.A.	U. of Miami Law, J.D.
Magistrate Judge William Matthewman	07/02/2012 - Present

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
William Julius Barker	1955 - 1959
John Bryan Simpson	1961-1962
Norman Roettger	1991 - 1997
Charles Fulton	1966 - 1977
Joseph Eaton	1982 - 1984
Edward Davis	1997 - 2000
Carl Atkins	1977 - 1982
George Whitehurst	1959 - 1961
John Warthen Holland	1950 - 1955
Louie Willard Strum	1948-1950
David Dyer	1962-1966
William Zloch	2000 - 2007
James King	1984 - 1991

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. George Young
2. Adalberto Jordan
3. James Paine
4. Stanley Marcus
5. William Marvin
6. Thomas Jefferson Boynton
7. Peter Fay
8. David Dyer
9. James William Locke
10. John McKinney
11. John Moses Cheney
12. Rhydon Mays Call
13. Alexander Akerman
14. Lake Jones
15. Halsted Lockwood Ritter
16. Louie Willard Strum
17. John Warthen Holland
18. Joseph Lieb
19. William McRae
20. Curtis Waller
21. George Whitehurst
22. Sidney Aronovitz
23. Carl Atkins
24. Ted Cabot
25. Emett Choate
26. Edward Davis
27. Dozier DeVane
28. Joseph Eaton
29. Wilkie Ferguson
30. Charles Fulton
31. Alcee Hastings
32. James Kehoe
33. William Mehrtens
34. Lenore Nesbitt
35. Norman Roettger
36. Thomas Scott
37. Eugene Spellman
38. John Bryan Simpson
39. William Julius Barker