United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee

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Middle District of Tennessee
Sixth Circuit
TN-MD.gif
Judgeships
Posts: 4
Judges: 4
Vacancies: 0
Judges
Chief: William L. Campbell Jr.
Active judges: William Campbell, Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr., Eli Richardson, Aleta Trauger

Senior judges:


The United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee is one of 94 United States district courts. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, it was created in 1839 when Congress added a third district to the state. When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit based in downtown Cincinnati at the Potter A. Stewart Federal Courthouse and Building.

Vacancies

See also: Current federal judicial vacancies

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

Pending nominations

There are no pending nominees for this court.


Active judges

Article III judges

Judge Appointed By Assumed Office Bachelors Law

Aleta Trauger

Bill Clinton (D)

October 22, 1998 -

Cornell College, 1968

Vanderbilt University Law School, 1976

Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr.

Barack Obama (D)

April 12, 2016 -

Vanderbilt University, 1978

Vanderbilt University Law School, 1981

William Campbell

Donald Trump (R)

January 12, 2018 -

United States Naval Academy, 1991

University of Alabama School of Law, 2001

Eli Richardson

Donald Trump (R)

October 18, 2018 -

Duke University, 1989

Vanderbilt University School of Law, 1992


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: 2

Senior judges

There are no judges matching these criteria.


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: 0
  • 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.[1]

Judge Appointed By Assumed Office Bachelors Law

Chip Frensley

University of Mississippi, 1992

Vanderbilt University, 1995

Alistair Newbern

September 1, 2016 -

Brown University, 1995

University of California, Berkeley, 2000

Barbara D. Holmes

October 10, 2016 -


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.[2]

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.[3][4][5]

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.[3][4][5]

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.[2][3][4][5]

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.[6]


Former judges

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

Jurisdiction

The Counties of the Middle District of Tennessee (click for larger map)

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

Court locations for the Middle District are located in Nashville, Cookeville, and Columbia, Tennessee.

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

The Columbia Division, covering Giles, Hickman, Lawrence, Lewis, Marshall, Maury, and Wayne counties.

The Nashville Division, covering Cannon, Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Houston, Humphreys, Montgomery, Robertson, Rutherford, Stewart, Sumner, Trousdale, Williamson, and Wilson counties.

The Northeastern Division, covering Clay, Cumberland, DeKalb, Fentress, Jackson, Macon, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, Smith, and White 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.


United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee 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 2,086 1,795 2,515 4 12 522 24 12 9 316 17
2011 1,847 1,888 2,203 4 4 463 38 15 10 381 20
2012 2,087 2,056 2,550 4 0 522 31 16 10 405 20
2013 2,232 2,330 2,440 4 0 558 34 16 10 278 14
2014 3,187 3,454 2,157 4 1 797 24 17 14 78 5
2015 2,173 2,205 2,116 4 12 543 24 20 12 104 6
2016 4,048 3,895 2,248 4 4 1,012 28 20 12 102 6
2017 2,370 2,694 1,922 4 21 593 26 16 11 55 4
2018 2,342 2,339 1,909 4 10 586 26 12 12 49 4
2019 2,076 1,953 2,035 4 0 519 27 15 10 66 5
2020 1,616 1,681 1,981 4 0 404 14 18 11 94 6
2021 1,686 1,753 1,933 4 0 422 22 22 11 85 6
2022 1,840 1,648 2,125 4 0 460 19 19 11 104 8
2023 1,976 1,931 2,179 4 0 494 20 19 8 87 6
Average 2,255 2,259 2,165 4 5 564 26 17 11 157 9

History

The State of Tennessee was organized as a single judicial district with one judgeship on January 31, 1797. This judicial district was not yet assigned to a judicial circuit, and therefore was granted the same jurisdiction as the United States circuit courts, excluding in appeals and writs of error which are the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

On February 13, 1801, the Judiciary Act of 1801 removed the district court in Tennessee and then authorized the United States Circuit Court for the Sixth Circuit to hold court in the Eastern District of Tennessee and the Western District of Tennessee. The full jurisdiction of the district and circuit courts was applied to these districts.

The Judiciary Act of 1801 was repealed on March 8, 1802, and thus restored the judicial organization that had remained in effect before 1801. This reestablished the U.S. District Court for the District of Tennessee, with circuit court trial jurisdiction.

On April 29, 1802, Statute 2 Stat. 165 divided the State of Tennessee into the Eastern District of Tennessee and the Western District of Tennessee. One judgeship was assigned to each of the districts.

The act on February 24, 1807, repealed the circuit court jurisdiction of the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern District of Tennessee and the Western District of Tennessee. The districts were assigned to the Seventh Circuit and the United States Circuit Court of the District of Tennessee was established.

Congress assigned the judicial districts of Tennessee to the Eighth Circuit on March 3, 1837. The Middle District of Tennessee was established on June 18, 1839, and the existing judgeship was made to serve all three judicial districts.

On July 15, 1862, Congress assigned the judicial districts of Tennessee to the Sixth Circuit. Over time, three additional judicial posts were added to the Middle District of Tennessee for a total of four current posts.[7]

Judicial posts

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the Middle District of Tennessee:[7]

Year Statute Total Seats
June 18, 1839 5 Stat. 313 1
June 14, 1878 20 Stat. 132 1
September 14, 1922 42 Stat. 837 2
May 31, 1938 52 Stat. 584 2 (1 temporary)
February 10, 1954 68 Stat. 8, 10 2
May 19, 1961 75 Stat. 80 2
October 20, 1978 92 Stat. 1629 3
December 1, 1990 104 Stat. 5089 4

Noteworthy cases

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

Federal courthouse

Three separate courthouses serve the Middle District of Tennessee and are located in Nashville, Columbia, and Cookeville.[8]

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.[9][10]

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.[11]

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.[10]

Step ApprovedA Candidacy Proceeds DefeatedA 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.[12]


See also

External links


Footnotes

  1. ↑ Federal Judicial Center, "Magistrate Judgeships," accessed April 29, 2021
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 United States Courts, "Frequently Asked Questions," accessed January 25, 2022
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, "28 U.S. Code § 136 - Chief judges; precedence of district judges," accessed January 25, 2022
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, "28 U.S. Code § 258 - Chief judges; precedence of judges," accessed January 25, 2022
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, "28 U.S. Code § 45 - Chief judges; precedence of judges," accessed January 25, 2022
  6. ↑ Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, "28 U.S. Code § 171 - Appointment and number of judges; character of court; designation of chief judge," accessed January 25, 2022
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Middle District of Tennessee, "History of the Middle District of Tennessee," accessed May 10, 2021
  8. ↑ Middle District of Tennessee, "Court Locations," accessed May 10, 2021
  9. ↑ US Courts, "Federal Judgeships," accessed May 10, 2021 (archived)
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 U.S. Courts, "United States District Court Federal Judiciary Frequently Asked Questions," accessed May 10, 2021 (archived)
  11. ↑ United States District Courts, "District Courts," accessed May 10, 2021
  12. ↑ The 'Lectric Law Library, "Understanding the U.S. federal courts"



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