United States District Court for the District of Vermont

District of Vermont
Second Circuit
Judgeships
Posts: 2
Judges: 2
Vacancies: 0
Judges
Chief: Christina Reiss
Active judges: Mary Kay Lanthier, Christina Reiss Senior judges: Geoffrey Crawford, William K. Sessions III

The United States District Court for the District of Vermont is one of 94 United States district courts. The court operates out of two locations in Burlington and Rutland, Vermont. It formerly operated out of Brattleboro as well until 2017. When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit based in Lower Manhattan at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Federal Courthouse in the New York City Area.

Vacancies

See also: Current federal judicial vacancies

There are no current vacancies on the United States District Court for the District of Vermont, out of the court's two judicial positions.

Pending nominations

There are no pending nominees for this court.

Active judges

Article III judges

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
Christina Reiss	Barack Obama (D)	December 21, 2009 -	St. Michael's College, 1984	University of Arizona College of Law, 1989
Mary Kay Lanthier	Joe Biden (D)	September 12, 2024 -	Amherst College, 1993	Northeastern University School of Law, 1996

Active Article III judges by appointing political party

The list below displays the number of active judges by the party of the appointing president. It does not reflect how a judge may rule on specific cases or their own political preferences.

• Democrat appointed: 2
• Republican appointed: 0

Senior judges

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
William K. Sessions III	Bill Clinton (D)	June 15, 2014 -	Middlebury College, 1969	George Washington University Law Center, 1972
Geoffrey Crawford	Barack Obama (D)	August 9, 2024 -	Yale University, 1977	Harvard Law School, 1980

Senior judges by appointing political party

The list below displays the number of senior judges by the party of the appointing president. It does not reflect how a judge may rule on specific cases or their own political preferences.

• Democrat appointed: 2
• Republican appointed: 0

Magistrate judges

Federal magistrate judges are federal judges who serve in United States district courts, but they are not appointed by the president and they do not serve life terms. Magistrate judges are assigned duties by the district judges in the district in which they serve. They may preside over most phases of federal proceedings, except for criminal felony trials. The specific duties of a magistrate judge vary from district to district, but the responsibilities always include handling matters that would otherwise be on the dockets of the district judges. Full-time magistrate judges serve for renewable terms of eight years. Some federal district courts have part-time magistrate judges, who serve for renewable terms of four years.

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
Kevin Doyle	United States District Court for the District of Vermont	March 22, 2021 -

Former chief judges

In order to qualify for the office of chief judge in an Article III circuit or district court, or on the United States Court of International Trade, a judge must be in active service and hold seniority over the court's commissioned judges who are 64 years of age or under, have served one year or more, and have not previously served as chief judge.

In the event that no judge on the court meets those qualifications, the youngest judge in regular active service aged 65 years or more and who has served as a judge for one year or more shall become chief judge. If no judge meets those qualifications, the judge holding seniority in active service who has not served as chief before shall become the chief judge.

The chief judge serves for a term of seven years until another judge becomes eligible to serve in the position. No judge is permitted to serve as chief judge after reaching the age of 70 years unless no other judge is qualified to serve.

Unlike the chief justice of the United States, a chief judge returns to active service after the expiration of their term and does not create a vacancy on the court by the fact of their promotion.

On the United States Court of Federal Claims, the chief judge is selected by the president of the United States. The judge must be less than 70 years of age. A chief may serve until they reach age 70 or until another judge is designated by the president as the new chief judge. If the president selects a new chief judge, the former chief judge may continue active service on the court for the remainder of their appointed term.

Geoffrey Crawford - (2017-2024) Christina Reiss - (2010-2017) William K. Sessions - (2002-2010) John Murtha - (1995-2002) Fred Parker - (1991-1994) Franklin Billings - (1988-1991)

Albert Coffrin - (1983-1988) James Holden - (1972-1983) Bernard Leddy - (1969-1972) Ernest Gibson - (1966-1969)

Former judges

For more information on the judges of the District of Vermont, see former federal judges of the District of Vermont.

Jurisdiction

The Counties of Vermont (click for larger map)

The District of Vermont has original jurisdiction over cases filed within its jurisdiction. These cases can include civil and criminal matters that fall under federal law.

The jurisdiction of the District of Vermont consists of all the counties in the state of Vermont.

The court has locations in Burlington and Rutland.

Caseloads

This section contains court management statistics dating back to 2010. It was last updated in September 2024.

Click [show] below for more information on caseload terms and definitions.

Caseload statistics explanation
Term	Explanation
Cases filed and terminated	The number of civil and criminal lawsuits formally initiated or decided by the court in a calendar year. The chart below reflects the table columns Cases filed and Cases terminated.
Average time from filing to disposition	The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to date of disposition (acquittal, sentencing, dismissal, etc.). The chart below reflects the table columns Median time (Criminal) and Median time (Civil).
Starting case load	The number of cases pending from the previous calendar year.
Cases filed	The number of civil and criminal lawsuits formally initiated in a calendar year.
Cases terminated	The total number of civil and criminal lawsuits decided by the court in a calendar year.
Remaining cases	The number of civil and criminal cases pending at the end of a given year.
Median time (Criminal)	The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to the date of disposition. In criminal cases, the date of disposition occurs on the day of sentencing or acquittal/dismissal.
Median time (Civil)	The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to the date of disposition.
Three-year civil cases	The number and percent of civil cases that were filed more than three years before the end of the given calendar year.
Vacant posts	The number of months during the year an authorized judgeship was vacant.
Trial/Post	The number of trials completed divided by the number of authorized judgeships on the court. Trials include evidentiary trials, hearings on temporary restraining orders, and preliminary injunctions.
Source: United States Courts, "Explanation of the Judicial Caseload Profiles for United States District Courts," accessed September 25, 2018

United States District Court for the District of Vermont caseload stats, 2010-2023
Year	Cases Filed	Cases Terminated	Cases Pending	Number of Judgeships	Vacant Judgeship Months	Average Total Filings per Judgeship	Trials Completed per Judgeship	Median time from filing to disposition, criminal	Median time from filing to disposition, civil	Three-year civil cases (#)	Three-year civil cases (%)
2010	630	524	638	2	0	315	17	12	8	22	6
2011	522	506	527	2	0	262	27	13	10	22	7
2012	550	626	553	2	0	275	29	12	9	21	7
2013	617	621	553	2	0	309	32	11	9	20	7
2014	517	546	522	2	0	259	22	11	10	27	9
2015	583	534	571	2	0	292	18	12	9	29	10
2016	636	566	637	2	0	318	24	11	11	26	7
2017	510	568	581	2	0	255	22	13	11	30	10
2018	493	502	547	2	0	247	22	13	10	38	12
2019	575	527	597	2	0	288	25	12	11	42	13
2020	443	499	541	2	0	222	11	14	10	36	12
2021	509	538	501	2	0	255	15	14	6	45	16
2022	564	511	557	2	0	282	13	13	9	47	18
2023	1,089	786	849	2	0	545	15	12	3	45	9
Average	588	561	584	2	0	295	21	12	9	32	10

History

Court history

The District of Vermont was created under the Judiciary Act of 1789 under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Circuit Court. Under the Judiciary Act of 1801, the circuits were reorganized and this court was assigned to the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit where it has remained since. Originally created with one judgeship, in a second judgeship was added 1966.

Judicial posts

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the District of Vermont:

Year	Statute	Total Seats
March 02, 1791	1 Stat. 197	1 (District of Vermont)
March 18, 1966	80 Stat. 75	2 (1 District)

Noteworthy cases

For a searchable list of opinions, please see Opinions of the District of Vermont.

Federal courthouse

The District Court of Vermont is housed in buildings in Burlington and Rutland.

About United States District Courts

The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal courts. There are 94 such courts. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of both law and equity.

There is a United States bankruptcy court and a number of bankruptcy judges associated with each United States district court. Each federal judicial district has at least one courthouse, and most districts have more than one.

There is at least one judicial district for each state, and one each for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. District courts in three insular areas—the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands—exercise the same jurisdiction as U.S. district courts. Despite their name, these courts are technically not District Courts of the United States. Judges on these territorial courts do not enjoy the protections of Article III of the Constitution, and serve terms of 10 years rather than for life.

There are 677 U.S. District Court judgeships.

The number of federal district judge positions is set by the U.S. Congress in Title 28 of the U.S. Code, Section 133, which authorizes a set number of judge positions, or judgeships, making changes and adjustments in these numbers from time to time.

In order to relieve the pressure of trying the hundreds of thousands of cases brought before the federal district courts each year, many trials are tried by juries, along with a presiding judge.

Appointments by president

The chart below shows the number of district court judges confirmed by the U.S. Senate through November 1 of the fourth year of each president's term in office. At this point in the term, President Bill Clinton had the most district court appointments with 169.

Judges by district

See also: Judicial vacancies in federal courts

The table below displays the number of judges in each district and indicates how many were appointed by presidents from each major political party. It also includes the number of vacancies in a district and how many pending nominations for that district are before the United States Senate. The table can be sorted by clicking the column headers above the line, and you can navigate through the pages by clicking the arrows at the top of the table. It is updated every Monday.

Judicial selection

The district courts are served by Article III federal judges who are appointed for life during "good behavior." They are usually first recommended by senators (or members of the House, occasionally). The President of the United States makes the appointments, which must then be confirmed by the U.S. Senate in accordance with Article III of the United States Constitution.

Step	A Candidacy Proceeds	A Candidacy Halts
1. Recommendation made by Congress Member to the President	President Nominates to Senate Judiciary Committee	President Declines Nomination
2. Senate Judiciary Committee interviews Candidate	Sends candidate to Senate for confirmation	Returns candidate to President, who may re-nominate to Committee
3. Senate votes on candidate confirmation	Candidate becomes federal judge	Candidate does not receive judgeship

Magistrate judges

The district courts are also served by magistrate judges. Congress created the judicial office of federal magistrate in 1968. In 1990, the position title was changed to magistrate judge. The chief judge of each district appoints one or more magistrate judges, who discharge many of the ancillary duties of district judges so judges can handle more trials. There are both full-time and part-time magistrate judge positions, and these positions are assigned to the district courts according to caseload criteria (subject to funding by Congress). A full-time magistrate judge serves a term of eight years; a part-time magistrate judge's term of office is four years.

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit
• District of Connecticut
• Eastern District of New York
• Northern District of New York
• Southern District of New York
• Western District of New York

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Vermont District US Courts
• United States Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont
• Judges of the District of Vermont
• Opinions of the District of Vermont