From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana

United States federal district court in Louisiana

Field	Value
court_type	district
court_name	United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
abbreviation	W.D. La.
seal_size	150
map_image_name	WDLA map.PNG
map_image_width	150
location	Shreveport
courthouse1	United States Post Office and Courthouse
location1	Alexandria
location2	Lafayette
location3	Lake Charles
location4	Monroe
location5	Opelousas
appeals_to	Fifth Circuit
established	March 3, 1881
judges_assigned	7
chief	Terry A. Doughty
us_attorney	vacant
official_site

The United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana (in case citations, W.D. La.) is a United States federal court with jurisdiction over approximately two thirds of the state of Louisiana, with courts in Alexandria, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, and Shreveport. These cities comprise the Western District of Louisiana.

Appeals from the Western District of Louisiana are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).

Jurisdiction

The parishes that fall under the jurisdiction of this district court are:

Acadia Parish
Allen Parish
Avoyelles Parish
Beauregard Parish
Bienville Parish
Bossier Parish
Caddo Parish
Calcasieu Parish
Caldwell Parish
Cameron Parish
Catahoula Parish
Claiborne Parish
Concordia Parish
DeSoto Parish
East Carroll Parish
Evangeline Parish
Franklin Parish
Grant Parish
Iberia Parish
Jackson Parish
Jefferson Davis Parish
Lafayette Parish
LaSalle Parish
Lincoln Parish
Madison Parish
Morehouse Parish
Natchitoches Parish
Ouachita Parish
Rapides Parish
Red River Parish
Richland Parish
Sabine Parish
Saint Landry Parish
Saint Martin Parish
Saint Mary Parish
Tensas Parish
Union Parish
Vermilion Parish
Vernon Parish
Webster Parish
West Carroll Parish
Winn Parish

History

On March 26, 1804, Congress organized the Territory of Orleans and created the United States District Court for the District of Orleans – the only time Congress provided a territory with a district court equal in its authority and jurisdiction to those of the states. The United States District Court for the District of Louisiana was established on April 8, 1812, by , several weeks before Louisiana was formally admitted as a state of the union. The District was thereafter subdivided and reformed several times. It was first subdivided into Eastern and Western Districts on March 3, 1823, by .

On February 13, 1845, Louisiana was reorganized into a single District with one judgeship, by , but was again divided into Eastern and the Western Districts on March 3, 1849, by . Congress again abolished the Western District of Louisiana and reorganized Louisiana as a single judicial district on July 27, 1866, by . On March 3, 1881, by , Louisiana was for a third time divided into Eastern and the Western Districts, with one judgeship authorized for each. The Middle District was formed from portions of those two Districts on December 18, 1971, by .

Current judges

Former judges

FillmoreJudge Boyce was nominated by President Taylor but was appointed to the Court by (i.e., received his commission from) President Fillmore.

Chief judges

Succession of seats

U.S. attorneys

The complete list of United States attorneys in Louisiana, including those who served during territorial status:

James Brown (1805–1808)
Philip Grymes (1808–1810)
Tully Robinson (1810–1811)
John Randolph Grymes (1811–1814)
Tully Robinson (2) (1814)
John Dick (1814–1821)
John W. Smith (1821–1823)
John Brownson (1823–1830)
Benjamin F. Linton (1830–1841)
Henderson Taylor (1841–1842)
Caleb L. Swayze (1842–1849)
Henry Boyce (1849–1850)
Lawrence P. Crain (1850–1853)
Joseph H. Kilpatrick (1853–1854)
Peter Alexander (1854–1856)
Claiborne C. Briscoe (1856)
Floyd Walton (1856–1860)
Leon D. Marks (1860)
James R. Beckwith (1870)
H. B. Talliaferro (1881)
Milton C. Elstner (1881–1885)
Montfort S. Jones (1885–1889)
Milton C. Elstner (2) (1889–1893)
Charles W. Seals (1893–1898)
Milton C. Elstner (3) (1898–1910)
Edward H. Randolph (1910–1913)
George W. Jack (1913–1917)
Robert A. Hunter (1917)
Joseph Moore (1917–1921)
Yandell Boatner (1921)
Hugh C. Fisher (1921–1922)
Philip H. Mecom (1922–1935)
Benjamin F. Roberts (1935–1937)
Harvey Fields (1937–1941)
Malcolm Lafargue (1941–1950)
Joseph J. Fleniken (1950)
Harvey Locke Carey (1950)
William J. Fleniken (1950–1953)
Thomas Wilson (1953–1962)
Edward L. Shaheen (1962–1969)
Donald Ellsworth Walter (1969–1977)
Edward L. Shaheen (2) (1977–1979)
J. Ransdell Keene (1979–1981)
Joseph S. Cage Jr. (1981–1993)
Michael D. Skinner (1993–2000)
William J. Flanagan (2000–2001)
Donald W. Washington (2001–2010)
William J. Flanagan (2) (2010)
Stephanie A. Finley (2010–2017)
Alexander Van Hook (2017–2018)
David C. Joseph (2018–2020)
Alexander Van Hook (2020–2021)
Brandon B. Brown (2021–2025)
Alexander Van Hook (acting) (2025)

References

[http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/courts_district_la.html U.S. District Courts of Louisiana, Legislative history], ''[[Federal Judicial Center]]''.
Asbury Dickens, ''A Synoptical Index to the Laws and Treaties of the United States of America'' (1852), p. 392.
(December 10, 2021). "Brandon B. Brown Sworn in as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana". U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana.

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.

united-states-district-courts louisiana-law alexandria,-louisiana lafayette,-louisiana lake-charles,-louisiana monroe,-louisiana shreveport,-louisiana federal-courthouses-in-louisiana 1823-establishments-in-louisiana 1845-disestablishments-in-louisiana 1849-establishments-in-louisiana 1866-disestablishments-in-louisiana 1881-establishments-in-louisiana courts-and-tribunals-established-in-1823 courts-and-tribunals-disestablished-in-1845 courts-and-tribunals-established-in-1849 courts-and-tribunals-disestablished-in-1866 courts-and-tribunals-established-in-1881

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report