HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a federal district court in the District of Columbia. It also occasionally handles (jointly with the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii and the
High Court of American Samoa The High Court of American Samoa is a Samoan court and the highest court below the United States Supreme Court in American Samoa. The Court is located in the capital of Fagatogo. It consists of one chief justice and one associate justice, appo ...
) federal issues that arise in the territory of
American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the Internatio ...
, which has no local federal court or territorial court.https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-1124T U.S. Government Accountability Office. AMERICAN SAMOA: Issues Associated with Some Federal Court Options. September 18, 2008. Retrieved September 7, 2019. Appeals from the District are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (except for
patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...
claims, and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the
Federal Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. or C.A.F.C.) is a United States court of appeals that has special appellate jurisdiction over certain types of specialized cases in the U.S. federal court ...
). the
United States Attorney for the District of Columbia The United States Attorney for the District of Columbia (USADC) is the United States Attorney responsible for representing the federal government in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The U.S. Attorney's Office for t ...
for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia is
Matthew M. Graves Matthew Michael Graves (born 1975) is an American lawyer who has served as the United States attorney for the District of Columbia since 2021. Early life and education Graves was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. He earned a Bachelor of Arts deg ...
.


History

The court was established by
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
in 1863 as the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, replacing the abolished circuit and district courts of the District of Columbia that had been in place since 1801. The court consisted of four justices, including a chief justice, and was granted the same powers and
jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. J ...
as the earlier circuit court. Any of the justices could convene a
United States circuit court The United States circuit courts were the original intermediate level courts of the United States federal court system. They were established by the Judiciary Act of 1789. They had trial court jurisdiction over civil suits of diversity jurisdi ...
or a local criminal court. In 1936, Congress renamed the court the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia. Its current name was adopted in 1948, and from then on justices were known as judges. Originally housed in the former
District of Columbia City Hall District of Columbia City Hall, also known as "Old City Hall" and the "District of Columbia Courthouse", is a historic building at Judiciary Square in downtown Washington, D.C. facing Indiana Avenue. Originally built for the offices of the govern ...
, the court now sits in the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse located at 333 Constitution Avenue, Northwest, Washington, D.C. The District has no local
district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a ...
or equivalent, and so local prosecutorial matters also fall into the jurisdiction of the
United States Attorney for the District of Columbia The United States Attorney for the District of Columbia (USADC) is the United States Attorney responsible for representing the federal government in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The U.S. Attorney's Office for t ...
.
Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal go ...
s (AUSAs) are tasked with prosecution of not only federal crimes but also crimes that would normally be left to the state prosecutor's discretion. Because of this the District has the largest U.S. Attorney's Office in the nation, with around 250 AUSAs.


Current judges

:


Vacancies and pending nominations


Former judges


Chief judges


Succession of seats

* Associate Justices Clabaugh, McCoy, Wheat and Laws were elevated to Chief Justice. * Chief Justice Laws was assigned to the new Seat 13 by
operation of law The phrase "by operation of law" is a legal term that indicates that a right or liability has been created for a party, irrespective of the intent of that party, because it is dictated by existing legal principles. For example, if a person dies wi ...
upon the abolition of the Chief Justice Seat 1.


See also

*
Courts of the United States The courts of the United States are closely linked hierarchical systems of courts at the federal and state levels. The federal courts form the judicial branch of the US government and operate under the authority of the United States Constitution a ...
*
List of current United States district judges The following is a list of all current judges of the United States district and territorial courts. The list includes both "active" and "senior" judges, both of whom hear and decide cases. There are 89 districts in the 50 states, with a total ...
*
List of United States federal courthouses in the District of Columbia Following is a list of current and former courthouses of the United States federal court system located in Washington, D.C., a national district with its own local government. Each entry indicates the name of the building along with an image, if a ...


References


External links


U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Official Website

Official Courthouse History


{{DEFAULTSORT:United States District Court for the District of Columbia
District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle (Washington, D.C.), Logan Circle, Jefferson Memoria ...
Government in Washington, D.C. 1863 establishments in Washington, D.C. Courts and tribunals established in 1863