United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas

Eastern District of Arkansas
Eighth Circuit
Judgeships
Posts: 5
Judges: 5
Vacancies: 0
Judges
Chief: Kristine Gerhard Baker
Active judges: Kristine Gerhard Baker, D.P. Marshall Jr., Brian Miller, James Moody Jr., Lee Rudofsky Senior judges: William Wilson, Susan Webber Wright

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas is one of 94 United States district courts. It is divided into three divisions with courthouses in Little Rock, Helena, and Jonesboro. When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, based in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, at the Thomas F. Eagleton Federal Courthouse and Building.

Vacancies

See also: Current federal judicial vacancies

There are no current vacancies on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, 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
Brian Miller	George W. Bush (R)	April 17, 2008 -	University of Central Arkansas, 1992	Vanderbilt Law School, 1995
D.P. Marshall Jr.	Barack Obama (D)	May 6, 2010 -	Arkansas State University, 1985	Harvard Law School, 1989
Kristine Gerhard Baker	Barack Obama (D)	May 8, 2012 -	St. Louis University, 1993	University of Arkansas Law, 1996
James Moody Jr.	Barack Obama (D)	March 10, 2014 -	University of Arkansas, 1986	University of Arkansas Law, 1989
Lee Rudofsky	Donald Trump (R)	November 8, 2019 -	Cornell University, 2001	Harvard Law School, 2005

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.

• Democratic appointed: 3
• Republican appointed: 2

Senior judges

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
William Wilson	Bill Clinton (D)	October 1, 2008 -	Hendrix College, 1962	Vanderbilt University Law School, 1965
Susan Webber Wright	George H.W. Bush (R)	August 22, 2013 -	Randolph-Macon Woman's College, 1970	University of Arkansas Law, 1975

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.

• Democratic appointed: 1
• Republican appointed: 1

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
J. Thomas Ray		June 27, 2008 -	Louisiana State University, 1973	Tulane University School of Law, 1976
Joe J. Volpe		2009 -	West Point, 1988	University of Arkansas Law, 1996
Jerome Kearney		July 2, 2010 -	Vanderbilt University, 1978	Vanderbilt University Law School, 1981
Patricia S. Harris		October 3, 2015 -	University of Arkansas, 1986	University of Arkansas Law, 1989
Edie Ervin	United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas	June 1, 2021 -	Hendrix College, 1988	University of Arkansas, Little Rock, William H. Bowen School of Law, 1993

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.

D.P. Marshall Jr. - (2019-2023) Brian Miller - (2012-2019) J. Leon Holmes - (2005-2012) Susan Webber Wright - (1998 - 2005) Stephen Reasoner - (1991 - 1998) Garnett Eisele - (1975 - 1991) Jesse Henley - (1959 - 1975) Thomas Trimble - (1948 - 1957)

Former judges

For more information about the judges of the Eastern District of Arkansas, see former federal judges of the Eastern District of Arkansas.

Jurisdiction

Arkansas counties (click for larger map)

The Eastern District of Arkansas 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 Central Division, covering Cleburne, Cleveland, Conway, Dallas, Drew, Faulkner, Grant, Jefferson, Lincoln, Lonoke, Perry, Pope, Prairie, Pulaski, Saline, Stone, Van Buren, White, and Yell counties.

The Delta Division, covering Arkansas, Chicot, Crittenden, Desha, Lee, Monroe, Phillips, and St. Francis counties.

The Northern Division, covering Clay, Craighead, Cross, Fulton, Greene, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Lawrence, Mississippi, Poinsett, Randolph, Sharp, and Woodruff counties.

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 Eastern District of Arkansas 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	3,720	2,470	9,710	5	16	744	22	13	15	3,113	34
2011	2,314	2,572	9,250	5	12	463	25	13	14	5,679	64
2012	2,608	5,402	6,737	5	4	522	25	14	46	3,360	55
2013	2,314	6,666	2,379	5	4	463	26	14	59	269	15
2014	2,484	2,629	2,234	5	2	497	25	16	13	54	4
2015	2,541	2,572	2,199	5	0	508	23	17	11	26	2
2016	2,453	2,425	2,226	5	0	491	24	18	10	35	2
2017	2,579	2,443	2,342	5	0	516	18	20	10	26	2
2018	2,627	2,485	2,478	5	6	525	15	16	10	36	3
2019	2,749	2,324	2,902	5	10	550	17	17	10	31	2
2020	2,852	2,564	3,206	5	0	570	12	20	11	49	3
2021	2,380	2,514	3,085	5	0	476	17	24	12	68	4
2022	2,655	2,542	3,202	5	0	531	16	28	12	75	4
2023	2,427	2,851	2,781	5	0	485	16	24	13	88	6
Average	2,622	3,033	3,909	5	4	524	20	18	18	922	14

History

The District of Arkansas was organized by Congress on June 15, 1836 with one post to cover the entire state. The district court in Arkansas was not yet assigned to a judicial circuit, and thus had 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, 1851, statute 5 Stat. 176, 177 divided the federal judiciary into nine circuits. This act assigned the district of Arkansas over to the Ninth Circuit,and repealed the district court of Arkansas' right to exercise the trial jurisdiction of a United States circuit court. The act established annual sessions of the U.S. circuit court in the district of Arkansas. Statute 5 Stat. 680 on June 17, 1844, extended the jurisdiction of the district of Arkansas over Indian territory previously annexed to the Territory of Arkansas.

Statute 9 Stat. 594 on March 3, 1851, divided the State of Arkansas into two judicial districts, known as the Eastern and the Western, with one judgeship serving both. The Indian territory was under the jurisdiction of the Western District of Arkansas, while the Eastern District remained in the Ninth Circuit and the Western District of Arkansas was granted that same jurisdiction as the United States circuit courts.

On July 23, 1866, Congress assigned Arkansas to the Sixth Circuit, and then to the Eighth Circuit by July 15, 1862. After this, a judgeship was authorized to the Western District on March 3, 1871, and the judgeship previously assigned to serve both districts was made into a judgeship for the Eastern District only.

In 1889, the U.S. circuit court for the Western District of Arkansas was established by statute.

Over time, four additional judicial posts were added for a total of six current posts.

Judicial posts

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the Eastern District of Arkansas:

Year	Statute	Total Seats
June 15, 1836	5 Stat. 50, 51	1
March 3, 1851	9 Stat. 594	1
March 3, 1871	16 Stat. 471	2
May 31, 1938	52 Stat. 584	3
May 19, 1961	75 Stat. 80	4
October 20, 1978	92 Stat, 1629	6
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	6

Noteworthy cases

For a searchable list of opinions, click here.

• State's restriction on abortions after 12 weeks declared unconstitutional (2014)      Judge(s):Susan Webber Wright (Edwards et al., v. Beck et al., 4:13CV00224)	Click for summary→
Judge Susan Webber Wright presided over a case challenging an Arkansas law restricting abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy. The Arkansas General Assembly passed the law after overriding Gov. Mike Beebe’s (D) veto. The law was scheduled to go into effect on August 16, 2013. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Center for Reproductive rights, and others sued to block the law from taking effect, challenging it as an attempt to eliminate access to abortions in the state. Judge Carter ruled against the State, and issued a preliminary injunction in favor of the advocacy groups. On March 14, 2014, Judge Carter declared the law unconstitutional, saying it "impermissibly infringe[d] a woman’s Fourteenth Amendment right to elect to terminate a pregnancy before viability." The state’s restriction was based on a fetal heartbeat rather than viability, and in her decision, Judge Carter noted that "[t]he Supreme Court has … stressed that it is not the proper function of the legislature or the courts to place viability at a specific point in the gestation period." On April 11, 2014, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel (D) announced that the state would appeal the ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. On May 28, 2015, a three-judge panel with the circuit court upheld Carter's ruling.

• Lee County School District racial discrimination case (2012)      Judge(s):Leon Holmes (Sharon Sanders v. Lee County School Dist. No. 1, et al, 2:08-cv-00219-JLH)	Click for summary→
On February 29, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit partially overturned a ruling of the Eastern District of Arkansas, which found the Lee County School District to have violated federal discrimination laws. Sharon Sanders, a former school finance coordinator who was white, sued the school district following her demotion and subsequent recommendation for dismissal alleging these actions were taken on the basis of racial discrimination. According to court records, Sanders and another administrator were demoted following an election where the school board became comprised of a majority of Black members. In the original suit, Sanders was awarded compensatory damages, lost wages, punitive damages, and attorney's fees by a jury. Upon appeal, a judge of the Eastern District of Arkansas revoked the lost wages and lowered her award for attorney's fees. The ruling by the Eighth Circuit ordered new proceedings to determine fees for Sanders' attorney and punitive damages, but fundamentally agreed that she had been discriminated against on the basis of race.

• Death row removal case (2009)      Judge(s):Leon Holmes (Simpson v. Norris, 5:04CV00429 JLH)	Click for summary→
On September 17, 2009, Judge Leon Holmes commuted the death sentence of Sedrice Maurice Simpson after he spent 11 years on death row. Judge Holmes agreed with Simpson's attorneys that due to his low IQ of 59, he could not be executed under state law, which prohibited execution of individuals with an IQ below 65. Under the judge's ruling, Simpson would serve two consecutive life sentences for murdering two grocery clerks in Dallas County.

Federal courthouse

Three separate courthouses serve the Eastern District of Arkansas:

• Richard Sheppard Arnold United States Courthouse in Little Rock
• Jacob Trieber Federal Building, United States Post Office, and United States Courthouse in Helena
• E.C. Gathings Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Jonesboro

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 September 1 of the first year of presidents' second term in office. At this point in the term, President Obama had the most district court appointments with 19.

Judges by district

See also: Judicial vacancies in federal courts

The table below displays the number of judges in each district and indicates how many were appointed by presidents from each major political party. It also includes the number of vacancies in a district and how many pending nominations for that district are before the United States Senate. The table can be sorted by clicking the column headers above the line, and you can navigate through the pages by clicking the arrows at the top of the table. It is updated every Monday.

Judicial selection

The district courts are served by Article III federal judges who are appointed for life during "good behavior." They are usually first recommended by senators (or members of the House, occasionally). The President of the United States makes the appointments, which must then be confirmed by the U.S. Senate in accordance with Article III of the United States Constitution.

Step	A Candidacy Proceeds	A Candidacy Halts
1. Recommendation made by Congress Member to the President	President Nominates to Senate Judiciary Committee	President Declines Nomination
2. Senate Judiciary Committee interviews Candidate	Sends candidate to Senate for confirmation	Returns candidate to President, who may re-nominate to Committee
3. Senate votes on candidate confirmation	Candidate becomes federal judge	Candidate does not receive judgeship

Magistrate judges

The district courts are also served by magistrate judges. Congress created the judicial office of federal magistrate in 1968. In 1990, the position title was changed to magistrate judge. The chief judge of each district appoints one or more magistrate judges, who discharge many of the ancillary duties of district judges so judges can handle more trials. There are both full-time and part-time magistrate judge positions, and these positions are assigned to the district courts according to caseload criteria (subject to funding by Congress). A full-time magistrate judge serves a term of eight years; a part-time magistrate judge's term of office is four years.

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
• United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa
• United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
• United States District Court for the District of Minnesota
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
• United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
• United States District Court for the District of Nebraska
• United States District Court for the District of North Dakota
• United States District Court for the District of South Dakota

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Official website of the Eastern District of Arkansas
• Opinions of the Eastern District of Arkansas
• U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas