The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (in case citations, W.D. Pa.) is a federal trial court that sits in Pittsburgh, Erie, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It is composed of ten judges as authorized by federal law. Appeals from this court are heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).
History The United States District Court for the District of Pennsylvania was one of the original 13 courts established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, , on September 24, 1789.Asbury Dickens, A Synoptical Index to the Laws and Treaties of the United States of America (1852), p. 388.U.S. District Courts of Pennsylvania, Legislative history, Federal Judicial Center. It was subdivided on April 20, 1818, by , into the Eastern and Western Districts to be headquartered in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, respectively. The court began its first session on December 7, 1818 at the Old County Courthouse in Pittsburgh. Portions of these districts were subsequently subdivided into the Middle District on March 2, 1901, by 31 Stat. 880. At the time of its initial subdivision, presiding judge Richard Peters Jr. was reassigned to only the Eastern District. This made it possible for President James Monroe to appoint Jonathan Hoge Walker as the first judge of the Western District of Pennsylvania.
The Erie courthouse and division was split from Pittsburgh for initial actions in January 1867, with the Johnstown courthouse and division being split from Pittsburgh for initial actions in 1989.
Current judges :
Former judges
Chief judges
Succession of seats
United States attorneys United States attorneys for the district have included: James Hamilton March 11, 1801 Andrew Stewart April 20, 1818 Alexander Brackenridge March 3, 1821 George W. Buchanan October 22, 1830 Benjamin Patton Jr. October 22, 1832 John P. Anderson June 12, 1839 Cornelius Darragh March 25, 1841 William O'Hara Robinson March 29, 1844 John L. Dawson July 22, 1845 J. Bowman Sweitzer August 27, 1850 Charles Shaler April 19, 1853 Richard Biddle Roberts April 21, 1857 Robert B. Carnahan April 12, 1861 Henry B. Swope January 24, 1870 David Reed March 24, 1874 Henry H. McCormick June 29, 1876 William A. Stone July 6, 1880 George A. Allen December 4, 1886 Walter Lyon June 21, 1889 Stephen C. McCandless April 26, 1893 Harry Alvan Hall June 8, 1893 Daniel B. Heiner September 14, 1897 James S. Young February 10, 1902 John W. Dunkle March 17, 1905 John H. Jordan April 15, 1909 Edwin Lowry Humes September 10, 1913 R. Lindsay Crawford September 2, 1918 Edwin Lowry Humes August 20, 1919 Robert J. Dodds June 1, 1920 D. J. Driscoll August 19, 1920 Walter Lyon March 11, 1921 John D. Meyer July 18, 1925 Louis Edward Graham October 31, 1929 Horatio S. Dumbauld August 17, 1933 Charles F. Uhl May 12, 1941 Owen McIntosh Burns May 16, 1947 Edward C. Boyle November 3, 1949 John W. McIlvaine July 16, 1953 D. Malcolm Anderson Jr. August 19, 1955 Hubert I. Teitelbaum March 17, 1958 Joseph S. Ammerman June 5, 1961 Gustave Diamond February 2, 1963 Richard L. Thornburgh June 4, 1969 Blair A. Griffith July 7, 1975 Robert J. Cindrich September 29, 1978 J. Alan Johnson July 31, 1981 Charles D. Sheehy January 15, 1989 Thomas W. Corbett November 30, 1989 Frederick W. Thieman August 16, 1993 Linda L. Kelly August 1, 1997 Harry Litman October 22, 1998 Linda L. Kelly April 28, 2001 Mary Beth Buchanan – September 18, 2001 Robert S. Cessar – November 17, 2009 David J. Hickton – August 12, 2010 Soo C. Song (acting) – November 29, 2016 Scott Brady – December 22, 2017 Steve Kaufman – February 28, 2021 Cindy Chung – November 2021 Troy Rivetti (acting) – February 17, 2023 Eric G. Olshan – June 12, 2023 Troy Rivetti – January 20, 2025
See also Courts of Pennsylvania List of current United States district judges List of United States federal courthouses in Pennsylvania
References
External links Official site