United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Jurisdiction

The Northern District of Texas has seven court divisions, covering the following counties:

• The Abilene Division, covering Callahan, Eastland, Fisher, Haskell, Howard, Jones, Mitchell, Nolan, Shackelford, Stephens, Stonewall, Taylor, and Throckmorton counties.
• The Amarillo Division, covering Armstrong, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Childress, Collingsworth, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Donley, Gray, Hall, Hansford, Hartley, Hemphill, Hutchinson, Lipscomb, Moore, Ochiltree, Oldham, Parmer, Potter, Randall, Roberts, Sherman, Swisher, and Wheeler counties.
• The Dallas Division, covering Dallas, Ellis, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Navarro, and Rockwall counties.
• The Fort Worth Division, covering Comanche, Erath, Hood, Jack, Palo Pinto, Parker, Tarrant, and Wise counties.
• The Lubbock Division, covering Bailey, Borden, Cochran, Crosby, Dawson, Dickens, Floyd, Gaines, Garza, Hale, Hockley, Kent, Lamb, Lubbock, Lynn, Motley, Scurry, Terry, and Yoakum counties.
• The San Angelo Division, covering Brown, Coke, Coleman, Concho, Crockett, Glasscock, Irion, Menard, Mills, Reagan, Runnels, Schleicher, Sterling, Sutton, and Tom Green counties.
• The Wichita Falls Division, covering Archer, Baylor, Clay, Cottle, Foard, Hardeman, King, Knox, Montague, Wichita, Wilbarger, and Young counties.

History

The first federal judge in Texas was John C. Watrous, who was appointed on May 26, 1846, and had previously served as Attorney General of the Republic of Texas. He was assigned to hold court in Galveston, at the time, the largest city in the state. As seat of the United States District Court for the District of Texas, the Galveston court had jurisdiction over the whole state. On February 21, 1857, the state was divided into two districts, Eastern and Western, with Judge Watrous continuing in the Eastern district. Judge Watrous and Judge Thomas Howard DuVal, of the Western District of Texas, left the state on the secession of Texas from the Union, the only two United States judges not to resign their posts in states that seceded. When Texas was restored to the Union, Watrous and DuVal resumed their duties and served until 1870.

In 1879, Texas was further subdivided with the creation of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, using territory taken from both the Eastern and Western districts.

In the twenty-first century, the Northern District of Texas has become a destination for forum shopping by conservative judicial activists who hope to use the conservative lean of the judges to gain favorable ideological decisions.

Current judges

:

Vacancies and pending nominations

Former judges

Chief judges

Succession of seats

Notes

References

1. "Meet Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy E. Larson".
2. "U.S. Department of Justice: 2002 Centennial Report, pgs. 1, 10".
3. "Southern District of Texas: History of the District".
4. [http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/courts_district_tx.html U.S. District Courts of Texas, Legislative history], ''[[Federal Judicial Center]]''.
5. Platof, Emma. (December 19, 2018). "By gutting Obamacare, Judge Reed O'Connor handed Texas a win. It wasn't the first time.". [[The Texas Tribune]].
6. (February 25, 2023). "The Texas judge who could take down the abortion pill". The Washington Post.
7. [[Recess appointment]]; formally nominated on December 13, 1898, confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] on February 15, 1899, and received commission the same day.
8. Recess appointment; formally nominated on May 23, 1919, confirmed by the Senate on June 24, 1919, and received commission the same day.
9. Recess appointment; formally nominated on January 15, 1962, confirmed by the Senate on March 16, 1962, and received commission on March 17, 1962.