The United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee (in case citations, W.D. Tenn.) is the federal district court covering the western part of the state of Tennessee. Appeals from the Western District of Tennessee are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth 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 jurisdiction of the Western District of Tennessee comprises the following counties: Benton, Carroll, Chester, Crockett, Decatur, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson, Henry, Lake, Lauderdale, Madison, McNairy, Obion, Perry, Shelby, Tipton, and Weakley.

The court's jurisdiction includes the entirety of West Tennessee, plus Perry County in Middle Tennessee. This area includes the cities of Jackson and Memphis.

The United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. the Office of the United States attorney is D. Michael Dunavant.

History The United States District Court for the District of Tennessee was established with one judgeship on January 31, 1797, by .Asbury Dickens, A Synoptical Index to the Laws and Treaties of the United States of America (1852), p. 391.U.S. District Courts of Tennessee, Legislative history, Federal Judicial Center. The judgeship was filled by President George Washington's appointment of John McNairy. Since Congress failed to assign the district to a circuit, the court had the jurisdiction of both a district court and a circuit court. Appeals from this one district court went directly to the United States Supreme Court.

On February 13, 1801, in the famous "Midnight Judges" Act of 1801, , Congress abolished the U.S. district court in Tennessee, and expanded the number of circuits to six, provided for independent circuit court judgeships, and abolished the necessity of Supreme Court Justices riding the circuits. It was this legislation which created the grandfather of the present Sixth Circuit. The act provided for a "Sixth Circuit" comprising two districts in the State of Tennessee, one district in the State of Kentucky and one district, called the Ohio District, composed of the Ohio and Indiana territories (the latter including the present State of Michigan). The new Sixth Circuit Court was to be held at "Bairdstown" in the District of Kentucky, at Knoxville in the District of East Tennessee, at Nashville in the District of West Tennessee, and at Cincinnati in the District of Ohio. Unlike the other circuits which were provided with three circuit judges, the Sixth Circuit was to have only one circuit judge with district judges from Kentucky and Tennessee comprising the rest of the court. Any two judges constituted a quorum. New circuit judgeships were to be created as district judgeships in Kentucky and Tennessee became vacant.The Honorable Harry Phillips, "History of the Sixth Circuit ".

The repeal of this Act restored the District on March 8, 1802, . The District was divided into the Eastern and Western Districts on April 29, 1802. On February 24, 1807, Congress again abolished the two districts and created the United States Circuit for the District of Tennessee. On March 3, 1837, Congress assigned the judicial district of Tennessee to the Eighth Circuit. On June 18, 1839, by , Congress divided Tennessee into three districts, Eastern, Middle, and Western.Alfred Conkling, A Treatise on the Organization, Jurisdiction and Practice of the Courts of the United States (1842), p. 42. Again, only one judgeship was allotted for all three districts. On July 15, 1862, Congress reassigned appellate jurisdiction to the Sixth Circuit. Finally, on June 14, 1878, Congress authorized a separate judgeship for the Western District of Tennessee. President Rutherford B. Hayes then appointed Eli Shelby Hammond as the first judge for only the Western District of Tennessee.

There are now five permanent judgeships and four magistrate judgeships for the Western District of Tennessee.

Current judges :

Former judges

Chief judges

Succession of seats

Courthouses The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee is based out of two courthouses, the Odell Horton Federal Building on 167 North Main Street in downtown Memphis and the Ed Jones Federal Building in Jackson, Tennessee.

List of U.S. attorneys Thomas Stuart 1803–1810 John E. Beck 1810–1818 Henry Crabb 1818–1827 Thomas H. Fletcher 1827–1829 James Collinsworth 1829–1835 William T. Brown 1835–1836 James P. Grundy 1836–1838 Joseph H. Talbot 1838-1838 Henry W. McCorry 1838–1850 Charles N. Gibbs 1850–1853 Richard J. Hays 1853–1856 Alexander W. McCampbell 1856–1861 John M. McCarmack 1861–1877 W.W. Murray 1877–1882 William F. Poston 1882–1885 Henry W. McCorry 1885–1889 Samuel W. Hawkins 1889–1894 Julius A. Taylor 1894–1895 Charles B. Simonton 1895–1898 George Randolph 1898–1910 Casey Todd 1910–1914 Hubert F. Fisher 1914–1917 William D. Kyser 1917–1921 S.E. Murray 1921–1926 Tilmon A. Lancaster 1926–1926 Nugent Dodds 1926–1926 Lindsay B. Phillips 1926–1931 Nelson H. Carver 1931–1932 Dwayne D. Maddox 1932–1933 William McClanahan 1933–1948 John Brown 1948–1953 Milsaps Fitzhugh 1953–1960 Warner Hodges 1960–1961 Thomas L. Robinson 1961–1969 Thomas F. Turley, Jr. 1969–1977 W.J. Michael Cody 1977–1981 Hickman Ewing 1981–1991 Ed Bryant 1991–1993 Daniel A. Clancy 1993 Veronica F. Coleman 1993–2001 Lawrence J. Laurenzi 2001-2001 Terrell L. Harris 2001–2005 Lawrence J. Laurenzi 2005–2006 David Kustoff 2006–2008 Lawrence J. Laurenzi 2008–2010 Edward L. Stanton III 2010–2017 Lawrence J. Laurenzi 2017 D. Michael Dunavant 2017–2021 Joseph C. Murphy Jr. 2021–2022 (acting) Kevin G. Ritz 2022–2024 Reagan T. Fondren (acting) 2024–2025 D. Michael Dunavant 2025–

See also Courts of Tennessee List of current United States district judges List of United States federal courthouses in Tennessee

References

External links United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee official website United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee official website