United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri

Eastern District of Missouri
Eighth Circuit
Judgeships
Posts: 9
Judges: 5
Vacancies: 4
Judges
Chief: Stephen Clark
Active judges: Henry Autrey, Stephen Clark, Sarah Pitlyk, Matthew Schelp, Brian C. Wimes Senior judges: Edward Filippine, Audrey Fleissig, Jean Hamilton, Nanette Laughrey, Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr., Catherine Perry, John A. Ross, Rodney Sippel, E. Richard Webber

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri is one of 94 United States district courts. The district operates out of courthouses in Cape Girardeau, St. Louis, and Hannibal, Missouri. When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, based in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, at the Thomas F. Eagleton Federal Courthouse and Building.

Vacancies

See also: Current federal judicial vacancies

There are four current vacancies on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, out of the court's nine judicial positions.

Pending nominations

There are no pending nominees for this court.

Active judges

Article III judges

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
Henry Autrey	George W. Bush (R)	August 2, 2002 -	St. Louis University, 1974	St. Louis University School of Law, 1977
Brian C. Wimes	Barack Obama (D)	April 30, 2012 -	University of Kansas, 1990	Texas Southern University, 1994
Stephen Clark	Donald Trump (R)	June 12, 2019 -	University of Notre Dame, 1988	St. Louis University School of Law, 1991
Sarah Pitlyk	Donald Trump (R)	December 5, 2019 -	Boston College, 1999	Yale Law School, 2008
Matthew Schelp	Donald Trump (R)	August 4, 2020 -	University of Missouri, 1992	University of Missouri, 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: 1
• Republican appointed: 4

Senior judges

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
Edward Filippine	Jimmy Carter (D)	June 11, 1995 -	Saint Louis University, 1951	Saint Louis University School of Law, 1957
E. Richard Webber	Bill Clinton (D)	June 30, 2009 -	University of Missouri, Columbia, 1964	University of Missouri, Columbia School of Law, 1967
Nanette Laughrey	Bill Clinton (D)	August 27, 2011 -	University of California, Los Angeles, 1967	University of Missouri, Columbia School of Law, 1975
Jean Hamilton	George H.W. Bush (R)	July 1, 2013 -	Wellesley College, 1968	Washington University School of Law, 1971
Catherine Perry	Bill Clinton (D)	December 31, 2018 -	University of Oklahoma, 1977	Washington University School of Law, 1980
Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr.	George W. Bush (R)	August 1, 2020 -	Southern Methodist University, 1973	Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law, 1976
Rodney Sippel		January 28, 2023 -	University of Tulsa, 1978	Washington University School of Law, 1981
Audrey Fleissig		April 14, 2023 -	Carleton College, 1976	Washington University School of Law, 1980
John A. Ross		June 3, 2023 -	Emory University, 1976	Emory University School of Law, 1979

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: 7
• Republican appointed: 2

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
Shirley Mensah	United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri	September 10, 2012 -	University of Pennsylvania, 1991	Washington University School of Law, 1995
Noelle C. Collins	United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri	December 1, 2013 -	Northwestern University, 1993	University of Illinois Law, 2001
Abbie S. Crites-Leoni	United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri	March 1, 2014 -	Southeast Missouri State University, 1995	Southern Illinois University, 1998
John Bodenhausen	United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri	April 16, 2015 -	University of Missouri, Columbia, 1985	St. Louis University School of Law, 1998
Patricia L. Cohen	United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri	January 4, 2016 -	University of Michigan, 1978	Cornell University School of Law, 1982
Stephen Welby	United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri	August 3, 2020 -
Rodney Holmes	United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri	February 6, 2023 -
Joseph S. Dueker	United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri	May 1, 2023 -	University of Richmond	St. Louis University School of Law

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.

Catherine Perry - (2009-2015) Carol Jackson - (2002 - 2009) Jean Hamilton - (1995 - 2002) Edward Filippine - (1990 - 1995) John Nangle - (1983 - 1990)

Harris Wangelin - (1979 - 1983) James Meredith - (1971 - 1979) Roy Winfield Harper - (1959 - 1971) George Moore - (1948 - 1959) Rodney Sippel - (2016 - 2022)

Former judges

For information on judges of the Eastern District of Missouri, see former federal judges of the Eastern District of Missouri.

Jurisdiction

Missouri counties (click for larger map)

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

The geographic jurisdiction of the Eastern District of Missouri consists of all the following counties in the eastern part of the state of Missouri.

There are three court divisions, each covering the following counties:

The Eastern Division, covering Crawford, Dent, Franklin, Gasconade, Jefferson, Lincoln, Maries, Phelps, Saint Charles, Saint Francois, Saint Louis, Warren and Washington counties, as well as the City of St. Louis.

The Northern Division, covering Adair, Audrain, Chariton, Clark, Knox, Lewis, Linn, Macon, Marion, Monroe, Montgomery, Pike, Ralls, Randolph, Schuyler, Scotland and Shelby counties.

The Southeastern Division, covering Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Dunklin, Iron, Madison, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Perry, Reynolds, Ripley, Sainte Genevieve, Scott, Shannon, Stoddard and Wayne counties.

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 Eastern District of Missouri 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	3,999	3,597	3,581	8	17	500	13	8	7	248	9
2011	3,414	3,125	3,673	8	9	427	13	8	9	338	10
2012	3,718	3,540	4,103	8	0	465	35	8	11	376	11
2013	4,086	3,797	4,427	8	6	511	35	8	8	639	17
2014	3,346	3,407	4,369	8	6	418	24	8	9	892	24
2015	3,438	3,399	4,422	8	0	430	17	9	9	1,065	30
2016	3,756	4,736	3,424	8	0	470	21	9	22	341	14
2017	4,531	4,889	3,028	8	4	566	24	9	3	84	4
2018	4,285	3,707	3,577	8	12	536	24	10	6	66	3
2019	5,433	5,188	3,736	8	16	679	25	10	2	61	3
2020	3,680	3,689	3,707	8	0	460	14	13	6	87	4
2021	3,183	3,576	3,345	8	0	398	21	15	9	124	7
2022	3,078	3,455	2,957	8	0	385	20	16	10	125	8
2023	3,516	3,325	3,122	8	0	440	20	15	7	92	5
Average	3,819	3,816	3,677	8	5	478	22	10	8	324	11

History

Congress established the State of Missouri as one judicial district on March 16, 1822, with one post to cover the entire state. The district court in Missouri was not yet assigned to a judicial circuit, and therefore was granted the same jurisdiction as the United States circuit courts, excluding appeals or writs of error, which are the jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court.

On March 3, 1837, following Statute 5 Stat. 176, Congress repealed the circuit court jurisdiction of the district court of Missouri. Missouri was assigned to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Missouri was created. On March 3, 1857, Statute 11 Stat. 197 divided the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Missouri into two judicial districts, known as the Eastern and the Western. One judgeship was authorized to each district, and the district judge who served the District of Missouri was assigned to serve the Western District of Missouri.

Congress assigned Missouri to the Ninth Circuit on July 15, 1862, and then assigned Missouri to the Eighth Circuit on July 23, 1866.

Over time, seven additional judicial posts were added for a total of nine current posts.

Judicial posts

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

Year	Statute	Total Seats
March 16, 1822	3 Stat. 653	1
March 3, 1857	11 Stat. 197	2
September 14, 1922	42 Stat. 838	3 (1 temporary)
August 19, 1935	49 Stat. 659	3
June 22, 1936	49 Stat. 1804	4
December 24, 1942	56 Stat. 1083	5(1 temporary)
February 10, 1954	68 Stat. 8	5
June 2, 1970	84 Stat. 294	6
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	7
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	8
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	9

Noteworthy cases

For a searchable list of opinions, click here.

• NuvaRing settlement, 2014

Click for summary→

In February 2014, Judge Rodney Sippel approved a $100 million class settlement over the use of NuvaRing, a birth-control device that sometimes led to injurious side effects, including death. Merck, the maker of the device, would have been able to negotiate a new settlement if less than 95 percent of claimants opted in. The 95 percent threshold was reached in June 2014, and the settlement was finalized between the parties. Articles: New York Post, "$100M settlement over Merck’s NuvaRing now final," June 5, 2014 USA Today, "Nuvaring case finalized in $100M settlement," June 5, 2014

• City of Moberly not liable for failed factory plans, 2014

Click for summary→

In February 2014, Judge Nanette Laughrey found that the City of Moberly, Missouri, by way of sovereign immunity, was not liable for any bond losses caused by the unsuccessful launch of the Mamtek International Ltd. factory grounds. Articles: Columbia Daily Tribune, "Federal judge rules Moberly not liable for Mamtek bonds," February 27, 2014 Law360, "Mo. City Dodges $39M Bond Suit Over Failed Mamtek Plant," February 28, 2014

• Inmate's execution temporarily halted following questions over clemency letter (2014)      Judge(s):Catherine Perry (U.S. v. Winfield)	Click for summary→
On June 12, 2014, Judge Catherine Perry stayed the execution of John Winfield, citing the possible intimidation of a prison worker who was supposed to write a letter in support of clemency on Winfield's behalf, but ultimately decided not to do so. Winfield was supposed to executed on June 18, 2014, for the murder of two women in 1996. The prison's laundry director, Terry Cole, indicated he wanted to write a letter on Winfield's behalf, but after he was investigated for over-familiarity with the prisoner, he changed his mind. Judge Perry granted a stay in Winfield's favor, noting there was evidence that Cole was threatened: “ The evidence presented to me shows that Winfield is likely to be able to prove at a later trial that prison officials took actions to intimidate Cole to keep him from providing support for Winfield’s clemency petition. ” The Missouri Attorney General's Office appealed Judge Perry's stay, and it was later lifted by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Winfield's attorneys then appealed their client's case to the Supreme Court, but it refused to issue a further stay. Governor Jay Nixon denied Winfield clemency, and the inmate was executed on the day his execution was originally scheduled.

• Imposter jailhouse lawyer, 2010      Judge(s):Catherine Perry (USA v. Tedrick, 4:09-cr-00476-CDP)	Click for summary→
Judge Perry was the presiding judge in the trial of Jeffrey Tedrick. Tedrick was sentenced by Judge Perry to four years in prison on February 16, 2010, for his role in defrauding people by pretending to be a jailhouse lawyer.

Noteworthy events

Federal Judicial Conference recommendation (2019)

In March 2019, the Federal Judicial Conference (FJC) recommended that one temporary judgeship in the district be made permanent. Based on FJC data, the district handled 486 weighted filings per judgeship from September 2017 to September 2018. Weighted filings are a specific metric used by the federal judiciary that accounts for the different amounts of time judges require to resolve types of civil and criminal cases. The national average in that period for weighted filings per judgeship was 513.

The FJC is the policy-making body for the United States federal courts system. It was first organized as the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges in 1922. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States serves as chair of the conference. The members of the conference are the chief judge of each judicial circuit, the Chief Judge of the Court of International Trade, and a district judge from each regional judicial circuit.

Federal courthouse

Three separate courthouses serve the Eastern District of Missouri:

• Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse in St. Louis
• Rush Hudson Limbaugh Sr. U.S. Courthouse in Cape Girardeau
• Hannibal Federal Building in Hannibal

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 February 1 of the first year of each president's term in office. At this point in the term, no president had made Article III judicial appointments.

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 Eighth Circuit
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
• United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
• United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa
• United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
• United States District Court for the District of Minnesota
• United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
• United States District Court for the District of Nebraska
• United States District Court for the District of North Dakota
• United States District Court for the District of South Dakota

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Official website of the Eastern District of Missouri
• Opinions of the Eastern District of Missouri
• U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri