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United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia

United States federal district court in Virginia

Summary

United States federal district court in Virginia

Field	Value
court_type	district
court_name	United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia
abbreviation	W.D. Va.
seal	Virginia-western.gif
seal_size	150
map_image_width	150
courthouse	Richard H. Poff Federal Building
location	Roanoke
location1	Charlottesville
location2	Harrisonburg
location3	Lynchburg
location4	Abingdon
location5	Big Stone Gap
location6	Danville
appeals_to	Fourth Circuit
established	February 4, 1819
judges_assigned	4
chief	Elizabeth K. Dillon
us_attorney	Robert Tracci (acting)
us_marshal	Thomas L. Foster
official_site

Map of the United States District Courts in Virginia, showing the boundaries of the Eastern and Western Districts, and their divisions.

The United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia (in case citations, W.D. Va.) is a United States district court.

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

The court is seated at multiple locations in Virginia: Abingdon, Charlottesville, Danville, Harrisonburg, Lynchburg and Roanoke.

History

The United States District Court for the District of Virginia was one of the original 13 courts established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, , on September 24, 1789.

On February 13, 1801, the Judiciary Act of 1801, , divided Virginia into three judicial districts: the District of Virginia, which included the counties west of the Tidewater and south of the Rappahannock River; the District of Norfolk, which included the Tidewater counties south of the Rappahannock; and the District of Potomac, which included the counties north and east of the Rappahannock as well as Maryland counties along the Potomac. Just over a year later, on March 8, 1802, the Judiciary Act of 1801 was repealed and Virginia became a single District again, , effective July 1, 1802.

The District of Virginia was subdivided into Eastern and Western Districts on February 4, 1819, by . At that time, West Virginia, was still part of Virginia, and was encompassed in Virginia's Western District, while the Eastern District essentially covered what is now the entire state of Virginia. With the division of West Virginia from Virginia during the American Civil War, the Western District of Virginia became the District of West Virginia, and those parts of the Western District that were not part of West Virginia were combined with the Eastern District to form again a single District of Virginia on June 11, 1864, by . Congress again divided Virginia into Eastern and the Western Districts on February 3, 1871, by .

Counties of jurisdiction

The Western District of Virginia covers the counties of Albemarle, Alleghany, Amherst, Appomattox, Augusta, Bath, Bedford, Bland, Botetourt, Buchanan, Buckingham, Campbell, Carroll, Charlotte, Clarke, Craig, Culpeper, Cumberland, Dickenson, Floyd, Fluvanna, Franklin, Frederick, Giles, Grayson, Greene, Halifax, Henry, Highland, Lee, Louisa, Madison, Montgomery, Nelson, Orange, Page, Patrick, Pittsylvania, Pulaski, Rappahannock, Roanoke, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Russell, Scott, Shenandoah, Smyth, Tazewell, Warren, Washington, Wise, and Wythe; and the independent cities of Bedford, Bristol, Buena Vista, Charlottesville, Covington, Danville, Galax, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Lynchburg, Martinsville, Norton, Radford, Roanoke, Salem, Staunton, Waynesboro, and Winchester.

Current judges

Former judges

Chief judges

Succession of seats

U.S. Attorney and U.S. Marshal

The U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia represents the federal government in the court. the acting United States attorney is Robert Tracci.

The U.S. marshal for the Western District of Virginia is Thomas L. Foster.

Former U.S. attorneys

Edwin S. Duncan (1824-1829)
William A. Harrison (1829-1834)
Washington G. Singleton (1834-1842)
William Kinney (1842-1843)
Moses C. Good (1843-1846)
George H. Lee (1846-1848)
George W. Thompson (1848-1850)
Benjamin H. Smith (1850-1853)
Flaming B. Miller (1853-1861)
Thomas W. Harrison (1861)
Aquilla B. Caldwell (1861-1862)
Benjamin H. Smith (1862)
Warren S. Lurty (1877-1882)
D.S. Lewis (1882-1885)
Henry C. Allen (1885-1889)
William E. Craig (1889-1893)
A. J. Montague (1893-1898)
Thomas M. Alderson (1898-1902)
Thomas L. Moore (1902-1910)
Barnes Gillespie (1910-1914)
Richard E. Byrd (1914-1920)
Joseph J. Chitwood (1920-1921)
Thomas J. Muncy (1921-1922)
Lewis P. Summers (1922-1924)
Joseph C. Shaffer (1924-1929)
John Paul (1929-1932)
Joseph C. Shaffer (1932-1933)
Joseph H. Chitwood (1933-1940)
Frank S. Tavenner Jr. (1940-1948)
Howard C. Gilmer Jr. (1948-1953)
John Strickler (1953-1961)
Thomas B. Mason (1961–1969)
Leigh B. Hanes (1969-1976)
Paul R. Thomson Jr. (1976-1980)
John S. Edwards (1980–1981)
John P. Alderman (1981–1990)
E. Montgomery Tucker (1990–1993)
Robert P. Crouch Jr. (1993–2001)
John L. Brownlee (2001–2008)
Timothy J. Heaphy (2009–2015)
John P. Fishwick Jr. (2015–2017)
Thomas T. Cullen (2018–2020)
Daniel P. Bubar (2020–2021) acting
Christopher R. Kavanaugh (2021-2024)
Zachary T. Lee (2024-2025) acting
Todd Gilbert (2025) acting
Robert Tracci (2025-) acting

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-virginia-and-district-potomac-legislative-history U.S. District Courts of Virginia, Legislative history], ''[[Federal Judicial Center]]''.
Jarvis, Brandon. (August 20, 2025). "Gilbert resigned from United States attorney post".
"The Political Graveyard: U.S. District Attorneys in Virginia".
(12 October 2021). "Western District of Virginia | Christopher R. Kavanaugh Sworn in as United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia | United States Department of Justice".
(December 20, 2024). "United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh Steps Down". United States Attorney's Office of the Western District of Virginia.

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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