United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana

Northern District of Indiana
	Seventh Circuit
Judgeships
	Posts: 5
	Judges: 5
	Vacancies: 0
Judges
	Chief: Holly Brady
	Active judges: Holly Brady, Cristal Brisco, Damon R. Leichty, Gretchen S. Lund, Philip Simon; Senior judges:; Jon E. DeGuilio, Robert Miller, James T. Moody, Theresa Springmann, Joseph Van Bokkelen

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana is one of 94 United States district courts. It was created in 1928 by an act of Congress that split Indiana into two separate districts, northern and United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. The Northern District of Indiana has courthouses in Fort Wayne, Hammond, Lafayette and South Bend, Indiana. Decisions of the court may be appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit based in Chicago, Illinois, at the Everett M. Dirksen Federal Courthouse and Building.

Vacancies

See also: Current federal judicial vacancies

There are no current vacancies on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, out of the court's five judicial positions.

Pending nominations

There are no pending nominees for this court.

Active judges

Article III judges

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
Philip Simon	George W. Bush (R)	March 27, 2003 -	University of Iowa, 1984	Indiana University School of Law, 1987
Holly Brady	Donald Trump (R)	April 16, 2019 -	Indiana University, Bloomington, 1991	Valparaiso University School of Law, 1994
Damon R. Leichty	Donald Trump (R)	July 26, 2019 -	Wabash College, 1994	Indiana University, Bloomington, Maurer School of Law, 1999
Cristal Brisco	Joe Biden (D)	January 26, 2024 -	Valparaiso University, 2002	University of Notre Dame Law School, 2006
Gretchen S. Lund	Joe Biden (D)	January 29, 2024 -	Butler University	Valparaiso University

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: 3

Senior judges

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
James T. Moody	Ronald Reagan (R)	June 17, 2003 -	Indiana University, 1960	Indiana University School of Law, 1963
Robert Miller	Ronald Reagan (R)	January 11, 2016 -	Northwestern University, 1972	Indiana University School of Law, 1975
Joseph Van Bokkelen	George W. Bush (R)	September 29, 2017 -	Indiana University, 1966	Indiana University School of Law, 1969
Theresa Springmann	George W. Bush (R)	January 23, 2021 -	Indiana University, 1977	University of Notre Dame, 1980
Jon E. DeGuilio	Barack Obama (D)	July 17, 2023 -	University of Notre Dame, 1977	Valparaiso University School of Law, 1981

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: 4

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
John E. Martin		March 1, 2013 -		Valparaiso University Law School
Susan L. Collins		January 16, 2015 -		Drake University School of Law

Former chief judges

Philip Simon - (2010 - 2017)
Robert Miller - (2003 - 2010)
William Lee - (1997 - 2003)
Allen Sharp - (1981 - 1996)
Jesse Eschbach - (1974 - 1981)

George Beamer - (1972 - 1974)
Robert Grant - (1961 - 1972)
Luther Swygert - (1954 - 1961)

Former judges

For more information about the judges of the Northern District of Indiana, see former federal judges of the Northern District of Indiana.

Jurisdiction

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

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

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

The Fort Wayne Division, covering Adams, Allen, Blackford, DeKalb, Grant, Huntington, Jay, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wells and Whitley counties.^[2]

The South Bend Division, covering Cass, Elkhart, Fulton, Kosciusko, LaPorte, Marshall, Miami, Pulaski, St. Joseph, Starke and Wabash counties.^[2]

The Hammond Division, covering Benton, Carroll, Jasper, Lake, Newton, Porter, Tippecanoe, Warren and White counties.^[2]

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 Northern District of Indiana 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	2,282	2,103	2,313	5	4	456	23	8	10	137	8
2011	2,008	2,033	2,065	5	0	401	26	9	11	84	5
2012	2,521	2,209	2,581	5	0	504	29	10	10	100	5
2013	2,899	2,334	3,154	5	0	580	26	12	11	115	4
2014	3,520	2,572	4,098	5	0	704	20	11	10	104	3
2015	2,086	2,724	3,461	5	0	417	16	11	17	154	5
2016	2,468	2,955	2,986	5	12	494	18	11	23	185	8
2017	2,556	2,510	3,044	5	15	511	15	12	13	304	12
2018	2,639	2,712	2,974	5	19	528	14	11	14	194	8
2019	2,864	2,720	3,120	5	0	573	14	14	13	156	6
2020	2,557	2,645	3,025	5	0	511	14	13	12	129	5
2021	2,340	2,603	2,765	5	11	468	19	14	13	176	8
2022	2,328	2,673	2,416	5	12	466	18	15	12	147	8
2023	2,600	2,568	2,464	5	3	520	17	15	9	128	7
Average	2,548	2,526	2,890	5	5	510	19	12	13	151	7

History

Indiana was established as one judicial district by Congress on March 3, 1817 with one post to cover the entire state. This district court was not assigned to a judicial circuit and was therefore granted the same jurisdiction as the United States circuit courts, excluding appeals and writs of error, which are the jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court.

On March 3, 1837, Statute 5 Stat. 176 allowed Congress to repeal the circuit court jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the District of Indiana, and then assigned the district over to the Seventh Circuit. Congress again re-organized the circuits on January 28, 1863, and assigned the District of Indiana to the Eighth Circuit, and then again over to the Seventh Circuit on July 23, 1866.

Statute 45 Stat. 437 on April 21, 1928, divided the District of Indiana into two judicial districts known as the Northern District of Indiana and the Southern District of Indiana. A judgeship was assigned to each new district. Over time 4 additional judicial posts were added for a total of 5 current posts.^[3]

Judicial posts

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the Northern District of Indiana:^[3]

Year	Statute	Total Seats
April 21, 1928	45 Stat. 437	1
February 10, 1954	68 Stat. 8	2
May 19, 1961	75 Stat. 80	3
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	4
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	5

Noteworthy cases

For a searchable list of opinions, please see Justia.com-Dockets and Filings-Northern District of Indiana.

Federal courthouse

Four separate courthouses serve the Northern District of Indiana and are located in Fort Wayne, Hammond, Lafayette, and South Bend.^[4]

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.^[5]^[6]

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.^[7]

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.