United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Northern District of Texas
Fifth Circuit
Judgeships
Posts: 12
Judges: 11
Vacancies: 1
Judges
Chief: David Godbey
Active judges: Jane Boyle, Ada Brown, David Godbey, James Wesley Hendrix, Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, James Kinkeade, Sam Lindsay, Reed O'Connor, Mark Pittman, Karen Gren Scholer, Brantley Starr Senior judges: Sam Cummings, A. Joe Fish, Sidney Fitzwater, Barbara Lynn, Robert Maloney, Terry Means

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas is one of 94 United States district courts. When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit based in downtown New Orleans at the John Minor Wisdom Federal Courthouse.

Vacancies

See also: Current federal judicial vacancies

There is one current vacancy on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, out of the court's 12 judicial positions.

Pending nominations

There are no pending nominees for this court.

Active judges

Article III judges

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
Sam Lindsay	Bill Clinton (D)	March 17, 1998 -	St. Mary's University, 1974	University of Texas School of Law, 1977
David Godbey	George W. Bush (R)	August 2, 2002 -	Southern Methodist University, 1978	Harvard Law School, 1982
James Kinkeade	George W. Bush (R)	November 15, 2002 -	Baylor University, 1973	Baylor University School of Law, 1974
Jane Boyle	George W. Bush (R)	June 29, 2004 -	University of Texas, 1977	Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law, 1981
Reed O'Connor	George W. Bush (R)	November 21, 2007 -	University of Houston, 1986	South Texas College of Law, 1989
Karen Gren Scholer	Donald Trump (R)	March 6, 2018 -	Rice University, 1979	Cornell University School of Law, 1982
Matthew J. Kacsmaryk	Donald Trump (R)	June 21, 2019 -	Abilene Christian University, 1999	University of Texas School of Law, 2003
Mark Pittman	Donald Trump (R)	August 5, 2019 -	Texas A&M University, 1996	University of Texas School of Law, 1999
Brantley Starr	Donald Trump (R)	August 6, 2019 -	Abilene Christian University, 2001	University of Texas School of Law, 2004
James Wesley Hendrix	Donald Trump (R)	August 8, 2019 -	University of Chicago, 2000	University of Texas, 2003
Ada Brown	Donald Trump (R)	September 13, 2019 -	Spelman College, 1996	Emory University School of Law, 1999

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: 10

Senior judges

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
Robert Maloney	Ronald Reagan (R)	August 31, 2000 -	Southern Methodist University, 1956	Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law, 1960
A. Joe Fish	Ronald Reagan (R)	November 12, 2007 -	Yale College, 1965	Yale Law School, 1968
Terry Means	George W. Bush (R)	July 3, 2013 -	Southern Methodist University, 1971	Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law, 1974
Sam Cummings	Ronald Reagan (R)	December 31, 2014 -	Texas Tech University, 1967	Baylor University School of Law, 1970
Sidney Fitzwater	Ronald Reagan (R)	September 22, 2018 -	Baylor University, 1975	Baylor University School of Law, 1976
Barbara Lynn	Bill Clinton (D)	May 15, 2023 -	University of Virginia, 1973	Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law, 1976

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: 1

• Republican appointed: 5

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
Jeffrey Cureton		June 1, 2010 -	Baylor University, 1990	Baylor University Law, 1993
Renee Toliver		September 3, 2010 -	Howard University, 1981	University of Texas Law, 1984
David L. Horan		November 20, 2012 -	University of Notre Dame, 1996	Yale Law School, 2000
Hal Ray		June 24, 2016 -	University of Texas, Austin, 1981	University of Texas School of Law, 1984
Gordon Bryant		August 1, 2016 -	Baylor University, 1983	Baylor Law School, 1986
Lee Ann Reno		October 1, 2017 -	Texas Tech University, 1990	Texas Tech University School of Law, 1994
Rebecca Rutherford		January 26, 2018 -	Southern Methodist University, 1993	Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law, 1998
John R. Parker		October 1, 2019 -	University of Dallas, 1983	Texas Tech University Law School, 1992

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.

Barbara Lynn - (2016- 2022) Jorge Solis - (2014 - 2016) Sidney Fitzwater - (2007 - 2014) Joe Fish - (2002 - 2007) Jerry Buchmeyer - (1995 - 2001) Harold Sanders - (1989 - 1995) Robert Porter - (1986 - 1989)

Halbert Woodward - (1977 - 1986) William Taylor - (1973 - 1977) Leo Brewster - (1972 - 1973) Joe Estes - (1959 - 1972) Joseph Dooley - (1959) Thomas Whitfield Davidson - (1954 - 1959) William Hawley Atwell - (1948 - 1954)

Former judges

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

Jurisdiction

The Counties of the Northern District of Texas (click for larger map)

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

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

The Abilene Division, covering Callahan, Eastland, Fisher, Haskell, Howard, Jones, Mitchell, Nolan, Shackelford, Stephens, Stonewall, Taylor, and Throckmorton counties

The Amarillo Division, covering Armstrong, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Childress, Collingsworth, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Donley, Gray, Hall, Hansford, Hartley, Hemphill, Hutchinson, Lipscomb, Moore, Ochiltree, Oldham, Parmer, Potter, Randall, Roberts, Sherman, Swisher, and Wheeler counties

The Dallas Division, covering Dallas, Ellis, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Navarro, and Rockwall counties

The Fort Worth Division, covering Comanche, Erath, Hood, Jack, Palo Pinto, Parker, Tarrant, and Wise counties

The Lubbock Division, covering Bailey, Borden, Cochran, Crosby, Dawson, Dickens, Floyd, Gaines, Garza, Hale, Hockley, Kent, Lamb, Lubbock, Lynn, Motley, Scurry, Terry, and Yoakum counties

The San Angelo Division, covering Brown, Coke, Coleman, Concho, Crockett, Glasscock, Irion, Menard, Mills, Reagan, Runnels, Schleicher, Sterling, Sutton, and Tom Green counties

The Wichita Falls Division, covering Archer, Baylor, Clay, Cottle, Foard, Hardeman, King, Knox, Montague, Wichita, Wilbarger, and Young counties

The court convenes in Dallas with divisions in Fort Worth, Amarillo, Abilene, Lubbock, San Angelo, and Wichita Falls. It has jurisdiction over 100 counties in the Northern and Central parts of the state of Texas.

Caseloads

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

United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas 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	6,037	5,857	4,930	12	0	503	26	6	6	101	3
2011	6,492	5,561	5,217	12	0	541	22	7	7	71	2
2012	8,727	6,054	8,404	12	0	727	22	7	7	87	1
2013	8,792	6,462	10,701	12	6	733	21	7	6	120	1
2014	8,248	6,578	12,295	12	12	687	20	7	7	953	9
2015	8,140	6,568	13,875	12	24	678	19	7	6	3,461	29
2016	7,602	6,743	14,645	12	43	634	20	8	7	5,508	43
2017	7,641	6,679	15,581	12	48	637	18	8	7	7,304	53
2018	7,613	7,270	15,936	12	47	634	20	7	7	8,385	60
2019	7,538	7,365	16,089	12	40	628	18	7	8	8,772	63
2020	8,504	10,495	14,153	12	0	709	13	8	14	7,038	60
2021	7,688	10,214	11,649	12	0	641	17	10	17	5,053	54
2022	7,259	12,632	6,234	12	0	605	15	10	55	433	10
2023	7,012	7,550	5,672	12	0	584	14	9	7	430	11
Average	7,664	7,573	11,099	12	16	639	19	8	11	3,408	29

History

On December 29, 1845, the State of Texas was organized as one judicial district. One judgeship was authorized for this U.S. district court, and being that it was not assigned to a judicial circuit, the district court was granted the same jurisdiction as the United States circuit courts, excluding appeals and writs of error, which are the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

Texas was divided into two judicial districts, known as the Eastern District of Texas and the Western District of Texas, on February 21, 1857. One judgeship was authorized for the court in each district. Circuit court jurisdiction of the district court in Texas was repealed on July 15, 1862, and a U.S. circuit court was established for the district and assigned over to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Texas was then assigned to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on July 23, 1866.

The Northern District of Texas was established on February 24, 1879, with one judgeship authorized to the district court. On February 9, 1898, a temporary judgeship was authorized to the Northern District of Texas. However, the statute provided that any vacancy in the existing judgeship would not be filled.

A few years later, on March 11, 1902, the Southern District of Texas was established and one judgeship was authorized to this district court.

The Northern District of Texas had ten judicial posts added over time for a total of twelve current posts.

Judicial posts

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

Year	Statute	Total Seats
December 29, 1845	9 Stat. 1	1
February 24, 1879	20 Stat. 318	1
February 9, 1898	30 Stat. 240	2
1898	Post Expired	1
February 26, 1919	40 Stat. 1183	2
September 14, 1922	42 Stat. 837	3(1 Temporary)
August 19, 1935	49 Stat. 659	3
May 19, 1961	75 Stat. 80	5
June 2, 1970	84 Stat. 294	6
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	9
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	10
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	12

Federal courthouse

Seven separate courthouses serve the Northern District of Texas.

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 March 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.