The United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina (in

case citation Case citation is a system used by legal professionals to identify past court case decisions, either in series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a neutral style that identifies a decision regardless of where it is reported. Case c ...

s, E.D.N.C.) is the

United States district court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district co ...

that serves the eastern 44 counties in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

. Appeals from the Eastern District of North Carolina are taken to the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Maryland ...

(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 The Tucker Act (March 3, 1887, ch. 359, , ) is a federal statute of the United States by which the United States government has waived its sovereign immunity with respect to certain lawsuits. The Tucker Act may be divided into the "Big" Tucker A ...

, 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 ...

Jurisdiction and offices

The District has three staffed offices and holds court in six cities:

Elizabeth City Elizabeth City is a city in Pasquotank County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 18,629. Elizabeth City is the county seat and largest city of Pasquotank County. It is the cultural, economic and educ ...

, Fayetteville, Greenville, New Bern,

Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...

, and Wilmington. Its main office is in Raleigh. It is broken down into four divisions. The eastern division is headquartered in Greenville and handles cases from

Beaufort Beaufort may refer to: People and titles * Beaufort (surname) * House of Beaufort, English nobility * Duke of Beaufort (England), a title in the peerage of England * Duke of Beaufort (France), a title in the French nobility Places Polar regions * ...

, Carteret, Craven, Edgecombe,

Greene Greene may refer to: Places United States *Greene, Indiana, an unincorporated community *Greene, Iowa, a city *Greene, Maine, a town ** Greene (CDP), Maine, in the town of Greene *Greene (town), New York ** Greene (village), New York, in the town ...

, Halifax, Hyde, Jones,

Lenoir Lenoir may refer to: Locations: * Lenoir, North Carolina, United States * Lenoir County, North Carolina, United States * Lenoir City, Tennessee In Universities: * Lenoir-Rhyne University * Lenoir Dining Hall, a dining hall at the University of N ...

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austr ...

Pamlico The Pamlico (also ''Pampticough'', ''Pomouik'', ''Pomeiok'') were American Indians of North Carolina. They spoke an Algonquian language also known as ''Pamlico'' or ''Carolina Algonquian''. Geography The Pamlico Indians lived on the P ...

, and Pitt counties. The southern division is based in Wilmington and serves the counties of: Bladen, Brunswick,

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

, Duplin, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender, Robeson, and Sampson. Its cases are heard in Wilmington. The northern and western divisions are based in Raleigh. The western covers:

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic counties of England, historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th c ...

, Franklin, Granville, Harnett, Johnston, Nash, Vance, Wake, Warren, Wayne, and

Wilson Wilson may refer to: People *Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender * Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson R ...

counties. Its cases are heard in Fayetteville, Greenville, and New Bern. The northern division presides over cases from: Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck,

Dare Dare may refer to: Places * Dare, East Timor, a city * Darè, Italy, a commune * Dare County, North Carolina, United States * Dare, Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community Name * Dare (name), a list of people and fictional c ...

, Gates,

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, n ...

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England ...

, Pasquotank,

Perquimans Perquimans County ()
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

, Tyrrell and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

counties. Its cases are heard in Elizabeth City. Pleadings are accepted for all divisions in any of the offices in Raleigh, Greenville, New Bern, or Wilmington.

History

The

United States District Court for the District of North Carolina The following are former United States district courts, which ceased to exist because they were subdivided into smaller units. With the exception of California, each of these courts initially covered an entire U.S. state, and was subdivided as the ...

was established on June 4, 1790, by .Asbury Dickens, ''A Synoptical Index to the Laws and Treaties of the United States of America'' (1852), p. 389.U.S. District Courts of North Carolina, Legislative history
''

Federal Judicial Center The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research agency of the United States federal courts. It was established by in 1967, at the recommendation of the Judicial Conference of the United States. According to , the main areas of respo ...

''. On June 9, 1794, it was subdivided into three districts by , but on March 3, 1797, the three districts were abolished and the single District restored by , until April 29, 1802, when the state was again subdivided into three different districts by . In both instances, these districts, unlike those with geographic designations that existed in other states, were titled by the names of the cities in which the courts sat. After the first division, they were styled the District of Edenton, the District of New Bern, and the District of Wilmington; after the second division, they were styled the District of Albemarle, the District of Cape Fear, and the District of Pamptico. However, in both instances, only one judge was authorized to serve all three districts, causing them to effectively operate as a single district. The latter combination was occasionally referred to by the cumbersome title of the United States District Court for the Albemarle, Cape Fear & Pamptico Districts of North Carolina. On June 4, 1872, North Carolina was re-divided into two Districts, Eastern and

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

, by . The presiding judge of the District of North Carolina, George Washington Brooks, was then reassigned to preside over only the Eastern District. The Middle District was created from portions of the Eastern and Western Districts on March 2, 1927, by . On July 6, 2021, under , Hoke, Moore, Scotland, and Richmond counties were transferred into the Eastern District from the Western District to end the previous situation where Fort Bragg was covered by two different districts.

Current judges

Former judges

Chief judges

Succession of seats

U.S. Attorneys for the Eastern District

* Richard C. Badger (1872–1878) * J. W. Albertson (1878–1882) * W. S. O. Robinson (1882–1885) * Fabius H. Busbee (1885–1889) * Charles A. Cooke (1889–1893) * Charles B. Aycock (1893–1898) * Claude M. Bernard (1898–1902) * Harry Skinner (1902–1910) * Herbert F. Seawell (1910–1913) * Francis D. Winston (1913–1916) * James O. Carr (1916–19) * Thomas D. Warren (1919–20) * E. F. Aydlett (1920–21) * Irvin B. Tucker (1921–30) * Walter H. Fisher (1930–34) * James O. Carr (1934–45) * Charles F. Rouse (1945–46) * John H. Manning (1946–51) * Charles P. Green (1951–53) * Julian T. Gaskill (1953–61) * Robert H. Cowen (1961–69) * Warren H. Coolidge (1969–73) * Thomas P. McNamara (1973–76) * Carl L. Tilghman (1976–77) * George M. Anderson (1977–1980) * James L. Blackburn (1980–81) * Sam Currin (1981–1987) * J. Douglas McCullough (acting 1987-88) * Margaret Currin (1988–1993; wife of Sam Currin) * J. Douglas McCullough (acting 1993) * Janice McKenzie Cole (1994–2001) * Frank Whitney (2002–2005) *

George Holding George Edward Bell Holding (born April 17, 1968) is an American politician, lawyer, and former federal prosecutor who is a former United States Representative for North Carolina's 2nd congressional district from 2017 to 2021. He previously repr ...

(2005–2011) * Thomas Walker (2011–2016) * John Stuart Bruce (acting 2016) * Robert Higdon Jr. (2017–2021) * Michael F. Easley Jr. (2021–present)

References

External links

Official website

News & Observer: Past political patrons for U.S. Attorneys
{{DEFAULTSORT:United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina North Carolina, Eastern District North Carolina law Pasquotank County, North Carolina Fayetteville, North Carolina Greenville, North Carolina Craven County, North Carolina Wilmington, North Carolina Organizations based in Raleigh, North Carolina New Bern, North Carolina 1872 establishments in North Carolina Courthouses in North Carolina Courts and tribunals established in 1872