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United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

United States federal district court in Pennsylvania

Summary

United States federal district court in Pennsylvania

Field	Value
court_type	district
court_name	United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
abbreviation	M.D. Pa.
seal	MD pa seal.jpg
seal_size	150
map_image_name	Middle District of Pennsylvania (map).svg
map_image_width	200
courthouse	Sylvia H. Rambo United States Courthouse
location	Harrisburg
courthouse1	William J. Nealon Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse
location1	Scranton
location2	Williamsport
location3	Wilkes-Barre
location4	Lewisburg
appeals_to	Third Circuit
established	March 2, 1901
judges_assigned	6
chief	Matthew W. Brann
us_attorney	John C. Gurganus (acting)
us_marshal	William M. Pugh
official_site

The United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania (in case citations, M.D. Pa.) is a district level federal court with jurisdiction over approximately one half of Pennsylvania. The court was created in 1901 by subdividing the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The court is under the jurisdiction of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).

Because Harrisburg, the state capital, is located within the district's jurisdiction, most federal suits against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are filed in the Middle District. Similarly, because York County Prison served as the largest Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) facility in the Northeast, the Middle District also adjudicated many immigration cases. The courts of appeal are now responsible for most judicial review of immigration decisions, bypassing the Middle District and other district courts.

Judge Matthew W. Brann is the chief judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania; William M. Pugh is the United States marshal for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. , the acting U.S. attorney is John C. Gurganus.

History

The United States District Court for the District of Pennsylvania was one of the original 13 courts established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, , on September 24, 1789. It was subdivided on April 20, 1818, by , into the Eastern and Western Districts to be headquartered in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, respectively. Portions of these districts were subsequently subdivided into the Middle District on March 2, 1901, by .

Current judges

Former judges

Chief judges

Succession of seats

Notable cases

Donald J. Trump for President v. Boockvar, et al., 502 F. Supp. 3d 899 (M.D. Pa. 2020) (affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in a non-precedential opinion, No. 20-3371 (November 2020)).
Irvis v. Scott, 318 F. Supp. 1246 (M.D. Pa. 1970) (affirmed by the US Supreme court in 1972 as Moose Lodge No. 107 v. Irvis, 407 U.S. 163 (1972))
Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
Lozano et al. v. City of Hazleton, M.D. Pa. No. 3:06-cv-01586-JMM (2006) (affirmed in part by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, No. 07-3531 (September 9, 2010)).
Whitewood v. Wolf This case struck down Pennsylvania's statutory ban on same-sex marriage on May 20, 2014. This was not appealed to the Third Circuit.

List of U.S. attorneys

The people in the district are represented by the United States attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Samuel McCarrell (1901–1908)
Charles B. Witmer (1908–1911)
Andrew B. Dunsmore (1911–1914)
Rogers L. Burnett (1914–1921)
Andrew B. Dunsmore (1921–1934)
Frank J. McDonnell (1934–1935)
Frederick V. Follmer (1935–1946)
Arthur A. Maguire (1946–1953)
Joseph C. Kreder (1953)
Julius Levy (1953–1957)
Robert J. Hourigan (1957–1958)
Daniel Jenkins (1958–1961)
Bernard J. Brown (1961–1969)
John Cottone (1969–1979)
Carlon M. O'Malley Jr. (1979–1982)
David Dart Queen (1982–1985)
James J. West (1985–1993)
Wayne P. Samuelson (1993)
David Barasch (1993–2001)
Martin Carlson (2001–2002)
Tom Marino (2002–2007)
Martin Carlson (2007–2009)
Dennis Pfannenschmidt (2009–2010)
Peter J. Smith (2010–2016)
Bruce D. Brandler (2016–2017)
David Freed (2017–2021)
Bruce D. Brandler (2021–2022)
Gerard Karam (2022–2025)
John C. Gurganus (2025–present)

Courthouses

Within the Middle District, federal courthouses are located in:

Harrisburg – Sylvia H. Rambo United States Courthouse
Scranton – William J. Nealon Federal Building and United States Courthouse
Williamsport – Herman T. Schneebeli Federal Building and Courthouse
Wilkes-Barre – Max Rosenn U.S. Courthouse

File:Rambo USCH.jpg|The Sylvia H. Rambo United States Courthouse in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, PA File:Williamsport PA Federal Courthouse.JPG|The Herman T. Schneebeli Federal Building and Courthouse in Williamsport, Lycoming County, PA

Counties of jurisdiction

The Court's jurisdiction includes the following counties:

Adams County
Bradford County
Cameron County
Carbon County
Centre County
Clinton County
Columbia County
Cumberland County
Dauphin County
Franklin County
Fulton County
Huntingdon County
Juniata County
Lackawanna County
Lebanon County
Luzerne County
Lycoming County
Mifflin County
Monroe County
Montour County
Northumberland County
Perry County
Pike County
Potter County
Schuylkill County
Snyder County
Sullivan County
Susquehanna County
Tioga County
Union County
Wayne County
Wyoming County
York County

References

Asbury Dickens, ''A Synoptical Index to the Laws and Treaties of the United States of America'' (1852), p. 388.
[https://www.fjc.gov/history/courts/u.s.-district-courts-districts-pennsylvania-legislative-history U.S. District Courts of Pennsylvania, Legislative history], ''[[Federal Judicial Center]]''.
(9 April 2015). "Listing of U.S. Attorneys | USAO-MDPA | Department of Justice". justice.gov.

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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