The United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina (in case citations, M.D.N.C.) is a United States district court with jurisdiction over 24 counties in the center of

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 ...

. It consists of five divisions with a headquarters in Greensboro, North Carolina. Appeals from the Middle 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, 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

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina has jurisdiction over 24 counties: Alamance, Cabarrus, Caswell, Chatham,

Davidson Davidson may refer to: * Davidson (name) * Clan Davidson, a Highland Scottish clan * Davidson Media Group * Davidson Seamount, undersea mountain southwest of Monterey, California, USA * Tyler Davidson Fountain, monument in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA * ...

, Davie, Durham (excluding that portion of Durham County encompassing the

Federal Correctional Institution, Butner The Federal Correctional Complex, Butner (FCC Butner) is a United States federal prison complex for men near Butner, North Carolina. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. FCC Butner ...

, North Carolina), Forsyth,

Guilford Guildford is a town in Surrey, England. It gives its name to the Borough of Guildford, the Diocese of Guildford and the Parliamentary constituency of Guildford. Guildford, Guilford, or Gildford may also refer to: Places Australia * Guild ...

, Hoke,

Lee Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...

, Montgomery,

Moore Moore may refer to: People * Moore (surname) ** List of people with surname Moore * Moore Crosthwaite (1907–1989), a British diplomat and ambassador * Moore Disney (1765–1846), a senior officer in the British Army * Moore Powell (died c. 1 ...

, Orange,

Person A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

, Randolph,

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

, Rockingham,

Rowan The rowans ( or ) or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus ''Sorbus'' of the rose family, Rosaceae. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the Himalaya ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, Stanly, Stokes, Surry, and Yadkin. The district's jurisdiction was modified in 2021 to transfer the portions of four counties (Hoke, Moore, Richmond, and Scotland) containing Fort Bragg Military Reservation and Camp Mackall to the Eastern District of North Carolina.S.1340 - A bill to amend title 28, United States Code, to redefine the eastern and middle judicial districts of North Carolina.https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/1340

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 1 Stat. 126.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 1 Stat. 395, but on March 3, 1797, the three districts were abolished and the single District restored by 1 Stat. 517, until April 29, 1802, when the state was again subdivided into three different districts by 2 Stat. 156. 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, by 17 Stat. 215. The Middle District was created from portions of the Eastern and Western Districts on March 2, 1927, by 44 Stat. 1339. Shortly thereafter, President

Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a Republican lawyer from New England who climbed up the ladder of Ma ...

appointed Johnson Jay Hayes by recess appointment to be the first judge of the Middle District of North Carolina.

Current judges

Former judges

Chief judges

Succession of seats

U.S. Attorneys for the Middle District

* Frank A. Linney (1927–1928) * Edwin L. Gavin (1928–1932) * John R. McCrary (1932–1934) * Carlisle W. Higgins (1934–1947) * Bryce R. Holt (1947–1954) *

Edwin M. Stanley Edwin Monroe Stanley (March 9, 1909 – December 23, 1971) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. Education and career Born in Forsyth County, North Carolina, Stanley ...

(1954–1957) * Robert L. Gavin (1957–1958) *James E. Holshouser, Sr. (1958–1961) *Lafayette Williams (1961) * William H. Murdock (1961–1969) * William Lindsay Osteen Sr. (1969–1974) * N. Carlton Tilley Jr. (1974–1977) *Benjamin H. White, Jr. (1977) *

Mickey Michaux Henry McKinley "Mickey" Michaux Jr. (born September 4, 1930) is an American civil rights activist and Democratic member of the North Carolina General Assembly. He represented the state's thirty-first House district from 1983 to 2019 and prev ...

(1977–1980) * Kenneth W. McAllister (1981–1986) * Robert H. Edmunds Jr. (1986–1993) *Benjamin H. White, Jr. (1993) * Walter C. Holton Jr. (1994–2001) * Anna Mills Wagoner (2001–2010) * Ripley Rand (2010–2017) * Sandra J. Hairston (2017–2018) * Matthew G.T. Martin (2018–2021) * Sandra J. Hairston (2021–present)

References

External links

United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina
{{DEFAULTSORT:United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina North Carolina, Middle North Carolina law Durham, North Carolina Greensboro, North Carolina Richmond County, North Carolina Rowan County, North Carolina Winston-Salem, North Carolina 1927 establishments in North Carolina Courthouses in North Carolina Courts and tribunals established in 1927