United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia

United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia (N.D. W.Va.)
Appeals to	Fourth Circuit
Established	January 22, 1901
Judges assigned	3
Chief judge	John Preston Bailey
Official site

The United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia (in case citations, N.D. W.Va.) is a federal court in the Fourth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).

Organization of the court

Under 28 U.S.C. § 129, West Virginia consists of two federal judicial districts, each with statutory divisions. The Northern District comprises the counties of Barbour, Berkeley, Braxton, Brooke, Calhoun, Doddridge, Gilmer, Grant, Hampshire, Hancock, Hardy, Harrison, Jefferson, Lewis, Marion, Marshall, Mineral, Monongalia, Morgan, Ohio, Pendleton, Pleasants, Pocahontas, Preston, Randolph, Ritchie, Taylor, Tucker, Tyler, Upshur, Webster, and Wetzel. Court for the Northern District is held at Clarksburg, Elkins, Martinsburg and Wheeling.

The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of West Virginia represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court.

Current judges

• As of December 18, 2006, a vacancy exists in the Northern District of West Virginia due to the death of Judge W. Craig Broadwater. On May 19, 2011, President Obama nominated Gina Marie Groh to the seat. Her nomination is pending before the U.S. Senate.

#	Title	Judge	Duty station	Born	Term of service			Appointed by
					Active	Chief	Senior
14	Chief Judge	John Preston Bailey	Wheeling	1951	2007–present	2008–present	—	G.W. Bush
12	District Judge	Irene Patricia Murphy Keeley	Clarksburg	1944	1992–present	2001–2008	—	G.H.W. Bush
—	District Judge	(vacant)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)
11	Senior District Judge	Frederick Pfarr Stamp, Jr.	Wheeling	1934	1990–2006	1994–2001	2006–present	G.H.W. Bush

Former judges

#	Judge	State	Born/Died	Active service	Term as Chief Judge	Senior status	Appointed by	Reason for termination
1	Jackson Jr., John JayJohn Jay Jackson Jr.	WV	1824–1907	1901[1]–1905	(none)	(none)	Lincoln, Lincoln	retirement
2	Dayton, Alston GordonAlston Gordon Dayton	WV	1857–1920	1905–1920	(none)	(none)	Roosevelt, T.T. Roosevelt	death
3	Baker, William EliWilliam Eli Baker	WV	1873–1954	1921–1954	1948–1954	1954	Harding, Harding	death
4	Watkins, Harry EvansHarry Evans Watkins	WV	1898–1963	1937–1963	1954–1963	(none)	Roosevelt, F.F. Roosevelt	death
5	Boreman, Herbert StephensonHerbert Stephenson Boreman	WV	1897–1982	1954–1959	(none)	(none)	Eisenhower, Eisenhower	reappointment
6	Paul, Charles FergusonCharles Ferguson Paul	WV	1902–1965	1960–1965	1963–1965	(none)	Eisenhower, Eisenhower	death
7	Christie, Sidney LeeSidney Lee Christie	WV	1903–1974	1964–1974	(none)	(none)	Johnson, L.L. Johnson	death
8	Maxwell, Robert EarlRobert Earl Maxwell	WV	1924-2010	1965–1995	1965–1994	1995–2010	Johnson, L.L. Johnson	death
9	Haden II, Charles HaroldCharles Harold Haden II	WV	1937–2004	1975–1983	(none)	(none)	Ford, Ford	assignment to another court
10	Kidd, William MatthewWilliam Matthew Kidd	WV	1918–1998	1979–1990	(none)	1990–1998	Carter, Carter	death
13	Broadwater, W. CraigW. Craig Broadwater	WV	1950–2006	1996–2006	(none)	(none)	Clinton, Clinton	death

See also

• Courts of West Virginia
• List of United States federal courthouses in West Virginia

Notes

1. ^ Early in the course of the American Civil War, the western portion of Virginia rejected Virginia's secession from the United States, and itself seceded from Virginia. This area largely coincided with the existing Western District of Virginia. The portion of Virginia remaining loyal to the Union became the state of West Virginia, which was admitted as a state on June 20, 1863. On June 11, 1864, by 13 Stat. 124, the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia became the United States District Court for the District of West Virginia, and those parts of the Western District that were not part of West Virginia were combined with what had previously been the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to again form a single United States District Court for the District of Virginia. John Jay Jackson, who had been appointed to the Western District of Virginia, was reassigned by operation of law to the newly formed District of West Virginia. At the same time, John Curtiss Underwood, who had been appointed to the Eastern District of Virginia, was reassigned by operation of law to the newly formed District of Virginia. On February 3, 1871, the District of Virginia was again subdivided into Eastern and Western Districts, and Underwood was reassigned to the Eastern District, until his death. On July 1, 1901, the District of West Virginia was subdivided into the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia and the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia; Jackson was reassigned to the Northern District, until his retirement.

External links

• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia
• The United States Attorney's Office Northern District of West Virginia