The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (in case citations, W.D. Pa.) sits in Pittsburgh, Erie, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It is composed of ten judges as authorized by federal law. The United States Marshal is Steven Richard Frank. 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).
The United States District Court for the District of Pennsylvania was one of the original 13 courts established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, 1 Stat. 73, on September 24, 1789. It was subdivided on April 20, 1818, by 3 Stat. 462, 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. [1] 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.[2]
[3]
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
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
