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United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts

United States district court

Field	Value
court_type	district
court_name	United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
abbreviation	D. Mass.
seal	District-Massachusetts.png
seal_size	150
map_image_name	Massachusetts Locator Map.PNG
map_image_width	150
courthouse	John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse
location	Boston
courthouse1	Harold D. Donohue Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse
location1	Worcester
location2	Springfield
location3	New Bedford
appeals_to	First Circuit
established	September 24, 1789
judges_assigned	13
chief	Denise J. Casper
us_attorney	Leah Foley (interim)
us_marshal	Brian A. Kyes
official_site

The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (in case citations, D. Mass.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The first court session was held in Boston in 1789. The second term was held in Salem in 1790 and court session locations alternated between the two cities until 1813. That year, Boston became the court's permanent home. A western division was opened in Springfield in 1979 and a central division was opened in Worcester in 1987. The court's main building is the John Joseph Moakley Federal Courthouse on Fan Pier in South Boston.

Appeals from the District of Massachusetts are heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, also located in the Moakley courthouse (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).

Jurisdiction

The District of Massachusetts has three court divisions:

The Eastern Division, covering Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Essex, Middlesex, Nantucket, Norfolk, Plymouth, and Suffolk counties. Cases filed in the Eastern Division are heard in Boston.

The Central Division, covering Worcester county. Cases filed in the Central Division are heard in Worcester.

The Western Division, covering Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire counties. Cases filed in the Western Division are heard in Springfield.

U.S. Attorney's Office

The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the courts. the U.S. attorney is Leah Foley.

Federal Public Defender's Office

The Federal Public Defender's Office represents individuals who cannot afford to hire a lawyer in federal criminal cases and related matters. The office is assigned to cases by the district courts in three districts (New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts), and by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Current judges

Vacancies and pending nominations

Seat	Prior judge's duty station	Seat last held by	Vacancy reason	Date of vacancy	Nominee	Date of nomination
13	Boston, MA	Nathaniel M. Gorton	Senior status	May 31, 2025
7	F. Dennis Saylor IV	July 31, 2025

Former judges

Judge Caffrey was nominated by President Eisenhower but was appointed to the Court by (i.e., received his commission from) President Kennedy.

Chief judges

Succession of seats

List of U.S. attorneys

Christopher Gore (1789–1796)
Harrison Gray Otis (1796)
John Davis (1796–1801)
George Blake (1801–1829)
Andrew Dunlop (1829–1835)
John Mills (1835–1841)
Franklin Dexter (1841–1845)
Robert Rantoul Jr. (1846–1849)
George Lunt (1850–1853)
Benjamin F. Hallett (1853–1857)
Charles L. Woodbury (1857–1861)
Richard Henry Dana Jr. (1861–1866)
George Stillman Hillard (1866–1870)
David H. Mason (1870–1873)
George P. Sanger (1873–1886)
George M. Stearns (1886–1887)
Owen A. Galvin (1887–1890)
Frank D. Allen (1890–1893)
Sherman Hoar (1893–1897)
Boyd B. Jones (1897–1901)
Henry P. Moulton (1901–1905)
Melvin O. Adams (1905–1906)
Asa P. French (1906–1914)
George Weston Anderson (1914–1917)
Thomas J. Boynton (1917–1920)
Daniel J. Gallagher (1920–1921)
Robert O. Harris (1921–1924)
Harold P. Williams (1925–1926)
Frederick H. Tarr (1926–1933)
Francis J. W. Ford (1933–1938)
John A. Canavan (1938–1939)
Edmund J. Brandon (1939–1946)
George F. Garrity (1946–1947)
William T. McCarthy (1947–1949)
George F. Garrity (1949–1953)
Anthony Julian (1953–1959)
Elliot Richardson (1959–1961)
W. Arthur Garrity Jr. (1961–1966)
Paul F. Markham (1966–1969)
Herbert F. Travers Jr. (1969–1971)
James N. Gabriel (1971–1972)
Joseph L. Tauro (1972)
James N. Gabriel (1973–1977)
Edward F. Harrington (1977–1981)
William F. Weld (1981–1986)
Robert Mueller Acting (1986–1987)
Frank L. McNamara Jr. (1987–1989)
Jermiah T. O'Sullivan Acting (1989)
Peter A. Mullin Acting (1989)
Wayne Budd (1989–1992)
A. John Pappalardo Acting (1992–1993)
Donald K. Stern (1993–2001)
Michael Sullivan (2001–2009)
Michael Loucks Acting (2009)
Carmen Ortiz (2009–2017)
William D. Weinreb Acting (2017)
Andrew Lelling (2017–2021)
Nathaniel R. Mendell Acting (2021–2022)
Rachael Rollins (2022–2023)
Joshua S. Levy (2023–2025)
Leah Foley Acting (2025-)

List of U.S. marshals

Jonathan Jackson (1789–1791)
John Brooks (1791–1796)
Samuel Bradford (1796–1804)
Thomson J. Skinner (1804–1807)
James Prince (1807–1821)
Samuel D. Harris (1821–1833)
Jonas L. Sibley (1833–1841)
Solomon Lincoln (1841–1844)
Isaac O. Barnes (1844–1850)
Charles Devens (1850–1853)
Watson Freeman (1853–1861)
John S. Keyes (1861–1867)
George Leonard Andrews (1867–1871)
Roland G. Usher (1871–1879)
Nathaniel P. Banks (1879–1888)
Henry B. Lovering (1888–1891)
William W. Doherty (1891–1894)
Henry W. Swift (1894–1899)
Charles K. Darling (1899–1908)
Guy Murchie Sr. (1908–1915)
John Joseph Mitchell (1915–1920)
Patrick J. Duane acting (1920–1921)
William J. Keville (1921–1934)
John J. Murphy (1934–1939)
J. Henry Goguen (1939–1947)
Arthur J. B. Cartier (1947–1953)
Robert H. Beaudreau (1953–1956)
Ralph W. Gray (1956–1961)
Robert F. Morey (1961–1969)
Albert A. Gammal Jr. (1969–1970)
John A. Birknes (1970–1977)
James I. Hartigan (1977–1981)
Bernard Stone acting (1981–1983)
James B. Roche III (1983–1990)
Thomas Nixon acting (1990–1991)
Robert T. Guiney (1991–1994)
Nancy McGillivray (1994–2002)
Anthony Dichio (2002–2005)
John Gibbons (2010–2021)
Brian A. Kyes (2023–present)

Notable cases

Ghen v. Rich (1881) (a whale is the property of the whaler who killed it, and not the person who found it dead on the beach).
2019 college admissions bribery scandal (2019)

References

{{USC. 28. 101.
(January 10, 2022). "United States Attorney".
"About us".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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