There are 94 active United States district and territorial courts .[1] states has between one and four district courts, and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico each have a district court.
The insular areas of Guam , the Northern Mariana Islands , and the United States Virgin Islands each have one territorial court; these courts are called "district courts" and exercise the same jurisdiction as district courts,[2] [3] Article IV courts , with judges who serve ten-year terms rather than the lifetime tenure of judges of Article III courts , such as the district court judges.[3] American Samoa does not have a district court or a federal territorial court, and so federal matters there are sent to either the District of Columbia or Hawaii .[4]
Definition
Map of the boundaries of the 94 United States District Courts The district courts were established by Congress under Article III of the United States Constitution . The courts hear civil and criminal cases, and each is paired with a bankruptcy court .[2] courts of appeals , organized geographically. The number of district courts in a court of appeals' circuit varies between one and thirteen, depending on the number of states in the region and the number of districts in each state.
The formal naming convention for the district courts is "United States District Court for" followed by the district name. Each district court has one or more meeting places at which it holds hearings and conducts business. Many federal courthouses are named after notable judges, such as the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in New York City or the Hugo L. Black United States Courthouse in Birmingham . The largest courthouse is the Thomas F. Eagleton United States Courthouse , which serves the Eastern District of Missouri .[5]
The largest courts by number of judges are the Central District of California and the Southern District of New York , each with 28 judgeships. The smallest are the District for the Northern Mariana Islands and the District of Guam , with one judgeship each.
Defunct courts
District of the Canal Zone Courthouse in Panama City, Panama Note: Defunct courts do not include courts consisting of an entire state that were later subdivided.
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