The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (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, W.D. Pa.) is a federal trial court that sits in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, Erie, and

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, Johnstown is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, whi ...

. It is composed of ten judges as authorized by federal law. Appeals from this court are heard by the

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts: * District of Delaware * District of New Jersey * East ...

(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 ...

History

The

United States District Court for the District of Pennsylvania 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 one of the original 13 courts established by the

Judiciary Act of 1789 The Judiciary Act of 1789 (ch. 20, ) was a United States federal statute enacted on September 24, 1789, during the first session of the First United States Congress. It established the federal judiciary of the United States. Article III, Sec ...

, , on September 24, 1789.Asbury Dickens, ''A Synoptical Index to the Laws and Treaties of the United States of America'' (1852), p. 388.U.S. District Courts of Pennsylvania, 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 ...

''. It was subdivided on April 20, 1818, by , into the Eastern and Western Districts to be headquartered in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

and

, respectively. The court began its first session on December 7, 1818 at the

Old County Courthouse The Old County Courthouse (also known as the Plymouth Old County Courthouse or the Old Town House) is an historic court house on Leyden Street and Market Street in the Town Square of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Built in 1749, the two-story wood-fram ...

in Pittsburgh. Portions of these districts were subsequently subdivided into the Middle District on March 2, 1901, by 31 Stat. 880. At the time of its initial subdivision, presiding judge Richard Peters Jr. was reassigned to only the Eastern District. This made it possible for President

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...

to appoint Jonathan Hoge Walker as the first judge of the Western District of Pennsylvania. The Erie courthouse and division was split from Pittsburgh for initial actions in January 1867, with the Johnstown courthouse and division being split from Pittsburgh for initial actions in 1989.

Territory of jurisdiction

Allegheny County Allegheny County () is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Southwestern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,250,578, making it the state's second-most populous county, following Philadelphia C ...

* Armstrong County * Beaver County * Bedford County *

Blair County Blair County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 122,822. Its county seat is Hollidaysburg. The county was created on February 26, 1846, from parts of Huntingdon and Bedford counties. B ...

* Butler County *

Cambria County Cambria County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 133,472. Its county seat is Ebensburg. The county was created on March 26, 1804, from parts of Bedford, Huntingdon, and Somerset Cou ...

* Clarion County *

Clearfield County Clearfield County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 80,562. The county seat is Clearfield, and the largest city is DuBois. The county was created in 1804 and later organized in 1822. ...

Crawford County Crawford County is the name of eleven counties in the United States: * Crawford County, Arkansas * Crawford County, Georgia * Crawford County, Illinois * Crawford County, Indiana * Crawford County, Iowa * Crawford County, Kansas * Crawford Count ...

* Elk County * Erie County * Fayette County * Forest County * Greene County *

Indiana County Indiana County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the west central part of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 83,246. Its county seat is Indiana. Indiana County comprises the Indiana, PA M ...

* Jefferson County * Lawrence County * McKean County * Mercer County * Somerset County *

Venango County Venango County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 50,454. Its county seat is Franklin. The county was created in 1800 and later organized in 1805. Venango County comprises the Oil City ...

* Warren County * Washington County * Westmoreland County

Current judges

Former judges

Chief judges

Succession of seats

United States Attorneys

Former

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

s for the district have included: *James Hamilton March 11, 1801 * Andrew Stewart April 20, 1818 * Alexander Brackenridge March 3, 1821 * George W. Buchanan October 22, 1830 * Benjamin Patton, Jr. October 22, 1832 * John P. Anderson June 12, 1839 *

Cornelius Darragh Cornelius Darragh (1809December 22, 1854) was an American lawyer and politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Whig member of the Pennsylvania State Senate, a U. S. District Attorney, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and as st ...

March 25, 1841 * William O'Hara Robinson March 29, 1844 * John L. Dawson July 22, 1845 * J. Bowman Sweitzer August 27, 1850 * Charles Shaler April 19, 1853 * Richard Biddle Roberts April 21, 1857 *

Robert B. Carnahan The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, ho ...

April 12, 1861 * Henry B. Swope January 24, 1870 *

David Reed David Reed may refer to: Entertainment * David Vern Reed (1924–1989), American comics writer * David E. Reed (1927–1990), ''Reader's Digest'' editor * David Reed (artist) (born 1946), American artist * David Jay Reed (born 1950), artist * Da ...

March 24, 1874 * Henry H. McCormick June 29, 1876 * William A. Stone July 6, 1880 * George A. Allen December 4, 1886 * Walter Lyon June 21, 1889 * Stephen C. McCandless April 26, 1893 *

Harry Alvan Hall Harry may refer to: TV shows *Harry (American TV series), ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin *Harry (British TV series), ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons *Harry ...

June 8, 1893 *

B. Heiner B is the second letter of the Latin alphabet. B may also refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Astronomy * Astronomical objects in the Barnard list of dark nebulae (abbreviation B) * Latitude (''b'') in the galactic coordinate syste ...

September 14, 1897 *

James S. Young James Scott Young (December 3, 1848 – February 25, 1914) was a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Education and career Born in Pittsburgh, Pe ...

February 10, 1902 * John W. Dunkle March 17, 1905 * John H. Jordan April 15, 1909 * Edwin Lowry Humes September 10, 1913 *

R. Lindsay Crawford R. or r. may refer to: * '' Reign'', the period of time during which an Emperor, king, queen, etc., is ruler. * '' Rex'', abbreviated as R., the Latin word meaning King * ''Regina'', abbreviated as R., the Latin word meaning Queen * or , abbrevia ...

September 2, 1918 * Edwin Lowry Humes August 20, 1919 * Robert J. Dodds June 1, 1920 * D. J. Driscoll August 19, 1920 * Walter Lyon March 11, 1921 * John D. Meyer July 18, 1925 * Louis Edward Graham October 31, 1929 * Horatio S. Dumbauld August 17, 1933 *

Charles F. Uhl Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

May 12, 1941 * Owen McIntosh Burns May 16, 1947 * Edward C. Boyle November 3, 1949 * John W. McIlvaine July 16, 1953 * D. Malcolm Anderson, Jr. August 19, 1955 * Hubert I. Teitelbaum March 17, 1958 * Joseph S. Ammerman June 5, 1961 * Gustave Diamond February 2, 1963 * Richard L. Thornburgh June 4, 1969 * Blair A. Griffith July 7, 1975 *

Robert J. Cindrich Robert James Cindrich (born September 22, 1943) is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and a former federal judicial nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for ...

September 29, 1978 * J. Alan Johnson July 31, 1981 * Charles D. Sheehy January 15, 1989 * Thomas W. Corbett November 30, 1989 * Frederick W. Thieman August 16, 1993 *

Linda L. Kelly Linda Lee Kelly (born May 20, 1949) is an United States of America, American lawyer, attorney. In 2011, she was appointed Pennsylvania Attorney General, Attorney General of Pennsylvania. Kelly served in the position until Kathleen Kane, her Penn ...

August 1, 1997 *

Harry Litman Harry P. Litman (born c. 1958) is an American lawyer, law professor and political commentator. He is a former U.S. Attorney and Deputy Assistant Attorney General. He has provided commentary in print and broadcast news and produces the Talking Fed ...

October 22, 1998 *

April 28, 2001 * Mary Beth Buchanan – September 18, 2001 * Robert S. Cessar – November 17, 2009 *

David J. Hickton David J. Hickton (born August 14, 1955) is the director and founder of the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security. Prior to that, he was the 57th U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He resigned ...

– August 12, 2010 * Soo C. Song (Acting) – November 29, 2016 * Scott Brady – December 22, 2017 * Cindy Chung – November 2021

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania 1818 establishments in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, Western District Pennsylvania law Erie, Pennsylvania Johnstown, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Courthouses in Pennsylvania Courts and tribunals established in 1818