United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee

The United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee (in case citations, W.D. Tenn.) is the federal district court covering the western part of the state of Tennessee. Appeals from the Western District of Tennessee are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).

United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
(W.D. Tenn.)
Location	Memphis More locations Jackson Dyersburg
Appeals to	Sixth Circuit
Established	April 29, 1802
Judges	5
Chief Judge	Sheryl H. Lipman
Officers of the court
U.S. Attorney	Reagan Taylor Fondren (acting)
U.S. Marshal	Tyreece L. Miller
www.tnwd.uscourts.gov

Jurisdiction

The jurisdiction of the Western District of Tennessee comprises the following counties: Benton, Carroll, Chester, Crockett, Decatur, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson, Henry, Lake, Lauderdale, Madison, McNairy, Obion, Perry, Shelby, Tipton, and Weakley.

The court's jurisdiction includes the entirety of West Tennessee, plus Perry County in Middle Tennessee. This area includes the cities of Jackson and Memphis.

The United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. As of September 18, 2024^[update] the Office of the United States attorney is vacant.

History

The United States District Court for the District of Tennessee was established with one judgeship on January 31, 1797, by 1 Stat. 496. The judgeship was filled by President George Washington's appointment of John McNairy. Since Congress failed to assign the district to a circuit, the court had the jurisdiction of both a district court and a circuit court. Appeals from this one district court went directly to the United States Supreme Court.

On February 13, 1801, in the famous "Midnight Judges" Act of 1801, 2 Stat. 89, Congress abolished the U.S. district court in Tennessee, and expanded the number of circuits to six, provided for independent circuit court judgeships, and abolished the necessity of Supreme Court Justices riding the circuits. It was this legislation which created the grandfather of the present Sixth Circuit. The act provided for a "Sixth Circuit" comprising two districts in the State of Tennessee, one district in the State of Kentucky and one district, called the Ohio District, composed of the Ohio and Indiana territories (the latter including the present State of Michigan). The new Sixth Circuit Court was to be held at "Bairdstown" in the District of Kentucky, at Knoxville in the District of East Tennessee, at Nashville in the District of West Tennessee, and at Cincinnati in the District of Ohio. Unlike the other circuits which were provided with three circuit judges, the Sixth Circuit was to have only one circuit judge with district judges from Kentucky and Tennessee comprising the rest of the court. Any two judges constituted a quorum. New circuit judgeships were to be created as district judgeships in Kentucky and Tennessee became vacant.

The repeal of this Act restored the District on March 8, 1802, 2 Stat. 132. The District was divided into the Eastern and Western Districts on April 29, 1802. On February 24, 1807, Congress again abolished the two districts and created the United States Circuit for the District of Tennessee. On March 3, 1837, Congress assigned the judicial district of Tennessee to the Eighth Circuit. On June 18, 1839, by 5 Stat. 313, Congress divided Tennessee into three districts, Eastern, Middle, and Western. Again, only one judgeship was allotted for all three districts. On July 15, 1862, Congress reassigned appellate jurisdiction to the Sixth Circuit. Finally, on June 14, 1878, Congress authorized a separate judgeship for the Western District of Tennessee. President Rutherford B. Hayes then appointed Eli Shelby Hammond as the first judge for only the Western District of Tennessee.

There are now five permanent judgeships and four magistrate judgeships for the Western District of Tennessee.

Current judges

As of January 20, 2023^[update]:

#	Title	Judge	Duty station	Born	Term of service			Appointed by
					Active	Chief	Senior
24	Chief Judge	Sheryl H. Lipman	Memphis	1963	2014–present	2023–present	—	Obama
22	District Judge	S. Thomas Anderson	Jackson	1953	2008–present	2017–2023	—	G.W. Bush
25	District Judge	Tommy Parker	Memphis	1963	2018–present	—	—	Trump
26	District Judge	Mark Norris	Memphis	1955	2018–present	—	—	Trump
27	District Judge	vacant	—	—	—	—	—	—
16	Senior Judge	James Dale Todd	inactive	1943	1985–2008	2001–2007	2008–present	Reagan
18	Senior Judge	Jon Phipps McCalla	Memphis	1947	1992–2013	2008–2013	2013–present	G.H.W. Bush
20	Senior Judge	Samuel H. Mays Jr.	Memphis	1948	2002–2015	—	2015–present	G.W. Bush
21	Senior Judge	J. Daniel Breen	Jackson	1950	2003–2017	2013–2017	2017–present	G.W. Bush
23	Senior Judge	John T. Fowlkes Jr.	Memphis	1951	2012–2022	—	2022–present	Obama

Vacancies and pending nominations

Seat	Prior judge's duty station	Seat last held by	Vacancy reason	Date of vacancy	Nominee	Date of nomination
3	Memphis	John T. Fowlkes Jr.	Senior status	September 1, 2022	–	–

Former judges

#	Judge	State	Born–died	Active service	Chief Judge	Senior status	Appointed by	Reason for termination
1	John McNairy	TN	1762–1837	1802–1833	—	—	Washington/Operation of law	resignation
2	Morgan Welles Brown	TN	1800–1853	1834–1853	—	—	Jackson	death
3	West Hughes Humphreys	TN	1806–1882	1853–1862	—	—	Pierce	impeachment and conviction
4	Connally Findlay Trigg	TN	1810–1880	1862–1878	—	—	Lincoln	seat abolished
5	Eli Shelby Hammond	TN	1838–1904	1878–1904	—	—	Hayes	death
6	John E. McCall	TN	1859–1920	1905–1920	—	—	T. Roosevelt	death
7	John William Ross	TN	1878–1925	1921–1925	—	—	Harding	death
8	Harry Bennett Anderson	TN	1879–1935	1925–1935	—	—	Coolidge	death
9	John Donelson Martin Sr.	TN	1883–1962	1935–1940	—	—	F. Roosevelt	elevation to 6th Cir.
10	Marion Speed Boyd	TN	1900–1988	1940–1966	1961–1966	1966–1988	F. Roosevelt	death
11	Bailey Brown	TN	1917–2004	1961–1979	1966–1979	—	Kennedy	elevation to 6th Cir.
12	Robert Malcolm McRae Jr.	TN	1921–2004	1966–1986	1979–1986	1986–2004	L. Johnson	death
13	Harry W. Wellford	TN	1924–2021	1970–1982	—	—	Nixon	elevation to 6th Cir.
14	Odell Horton	TN	1929–2006	1980–1995	1987–1994	1995–2006	Carter	death
15	Julia Smith Gibbons	TN	1950–present	1983–2002	1994–2000	—	Reagan	elevation to 6th Cir.
17	Jerome Turner	TN	1942–2000	1987–2000	—	—	Reagan	death
19	Bernice B. Donald	TN	1951–present	1995–2011	—	—	Clinton	elevation to 6th Cir.

1. Reassigned from the District of Tennessee.
2. Jointly appointed to the Eastern and Western Districts of Tennessee
3. From 1839 to 1853, Judge Brown was jointly appointed to the Middle District of Tennessee.
4. Jointly appointed to the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Tennessee
5. Recess appointment; formally nominated on December 8, 1925, confirmed by the United States Senate on January 29, 1926, and received commission the same day.

Chief judges

Chief judges have administrative responsibilities with respect to their district court. Unlike the Supreme Court, where one justice is specifically nominated to be chief, the office of chief judge rotates among the district court judges. To be chief, 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 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.

When the office was created in 1948, the chief judge was 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. After August 6, 1959, judges could not become or remain chief after turning 70 years old. The current rules have been in operation since October 1, 1982.

Succession of seats

Seat 1 Seat reassigned from District of Tennessee on April 29, 1802 by 2 Stat. 165 (concurrent with Eastern District) McNairy 1802–1833 Seat made concurrent with Middle District on June 18, 1839 by 5 Stat. 313 Brown 1833–1853 Humphreys 1853–1862 Trigg 1862–1878 Seat reassigned solely to Eastern and Middle Districts on June 14, 1878 by 20 Stat. 132

Seat 2 Seat established on June 14, 1878 by 20 Stat. 132 Hammond 1878–1904 McCall 1905–1920 Ross 1921–1925 H. Anderson 1926–1935 Martin, Sr. 1935–1940 Boyd 1940–1966 McRae, Jr. 1966–1986 Turner 1987–2000 Mays, Jr. 2002–2015 Parker 2018–present

Seat 3 Seat established on May 19, 1961 by 75 Stat. 80 Brown 1961–1979 Horton 1980–1995 Donald 1995–2011 Fowlkes, Jr. 2012–2022 vacant 2022–present

Seat 4 Seat established on June 2, 1970 by 84 Stat. 294 Wellford 1970–1982 Gibbons 1983–2002 Breen 2003–2017 Norris, Sr. 2018–present

Seat 5 Seat established on July 10, 1984 by 98 Stat. 333 Todd 1985–2008 S. Anderson 2008–present

Seat 6 Seat established on December 1, 1990 by 104 Stat. 5089 McCalla 1992–2013 Lipman 2014–present

Courthouses

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee is based out of two courthouses, the on 167 North Main Street in downtown Memphis and the in Jackson, Tennessee.

List of U.S. attorneys

• 1803–1810
• John E. Beck 1810–1818
• Henry Crabb 1818–1827
• 1827–1829
• James Collinsworth 1829–1835
• 1835–1836
• 1836–1838
• 1838-1838
• 1838–1850
• 1850–1853
• 1853–1856
• 1856–1861
• 1861–1877
• 1877–1882
• 1882–1885
• 1885–1889
• 1889–1894
• 1894–1895
• Charles B. Simonton 1895–1898
• George Randolph 1898–1910
• 1910–1914
• Hubert F. Fisher 1914–1917
• 1917–1921
• 1921–1926
• 1926–1926
• 1926–1926
• 1926–1931
• 1931–1932
• 1932–1933
• 1933–1948
• 1948–1953
• 1953–1960
• 1960–1961
• 1961–1969
• 1969–1977
• 1977–1981
• Hickman Ewing 1981–1991
• Ed Bryant 1991–1993
• 1993
• 1993–2001
• 2001-2001
• 2001–2005
• 2005–2006
• David Kustoff 2006–2008
• 2008–2010
• Edward L. Stanton III 2010–2017
• 2017
• D. Michael Dunavant 2017–2021
• 2021–2022
• Kevin G. Ritz 2022–2024
• 2024–present

See also

• Courts of Tennessee
• List of current United States district judges
• List of United States federal courthouses in Tennessee

References

1. Asbury Dickens, A Synoptical Index to the Laws and Treaties of the United States of America (1852), p. 391.
2. U.S. District Courts of Tennessee, Legislative history, Federal Judicial Center.
3. The Honorable Harry Phillips, "History of the Sixth Circuit Archived January 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine".
4. Alfred Conkling, A Treatise on the Organization, Jurisdiction and Practice of the Courts of the United States (1842), p. 42.
5. "Listing Of Past And Current United States Attorneys". Department of Justice. March 18, 2015.

External links

• United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee official website
• United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee official website

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