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United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa

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Northern District of Iowa
Eighth Circuit
IA-ND.png
Judgeships
Posts: 2
Judges: 2
Vacancies: 0
Judges
Chief: Charles Williams
Active judges:
Leonard T. Strand, Charles Williams

Senior judges:
Linda Reade


The United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa is one of 94 United States district courts. It is headquartered in Cedar Rapids, with satellite facilities in Sioux City. 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 Northern District of Iowa, out of the court's two judicial positions.

Pending nominations

There are no pending nominees for this court.


Active judges

Article III judges

Judge Appointed By Assumed Office Bachelors Law

Leonard T. Strand

Barack Obama (D)

February 12, 2016 -

University of Iowa, 1987

University of Iowa Law, 1990

Charles Williams

Donald Trump (R)

September 10, 2018 -

University of Iowa, 1985

University of Iowa Law, 1988


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: 1
  • Republican appointed: 1

Senior judges

Judge Appointed By Assumed Office Bachelors Law

Linda Reade

George W. Bush (R)

October 1, 2017 -

Drake University, 1970

Drake University Law School, 1980


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: 0
  • 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.[1]

Judge Appointed By Assumed Office Bachelors Law

Kelly K.E. Mahoney

January 3, 2017 -

Kansas State University, 1998

Washburn University School of Law, 2002

Mark Roberts

September 17, 2018 -

Iowa State University, 1989

University of Nebraska College 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.[2]

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.[3][4][5]

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.[3][4][5]

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.[2][3][4][5]

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.[6]


Former judges

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

Jurisdiction

Iowa counties (click for larger map)

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

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

The Cedar Rapids Division, covering Benton, Cedar, Grundy, Hardin, Iowa, Jones, Linn, and Tama counties.

The Central Division, covering Butler, Calhoun, Carroll, Cerro Gordo, Emmet, Franklin, Hamilton, Hancock, Humboldt, Kossuth, Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Webster, Winnebago, Worth, and Wright counties.

The Eastern Division, covering Allamakee, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Chickasaw, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Floyd, Howard, Jackson, Mitchell, and Winneshiek counties.

The Western Division, covering Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Crawford, Dickinson, Ida, Lyon, Monona, O'Brien, Osceola, Plymouth, Sac, Sioux, and Woodbury 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.

United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa 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 1,137 1,037 820 2 0 569 54 7 7 20 4
2011 1,066 1,126 687 2 0 534 79 6 10 22 4
2012 1,044 1,088 723 2 0 522 115 7 10 21 4
2013 1,065 1,116 674 2 0 533 102 7 9 11 3
2014 1,120 1,162 629 2 0 560 110 6 8 12 3
2015 1,360 1,310 675 2 7 680 107 6 1 12 3
2016 1,372 1,223 829 2 12 686 80 7 9 12 2
2017 1,169 1,363 623 2 15 585 89 7 10 12 4
2018 1,125 1,013 729 2 20 563 71 7 6 7 2
2019 1,130 1,095 780 2 0 565 80 8 10 3 1
2020 984 987 774 2 0 492 51 10 9 5 1
2021 1,023 1,098 701 2 0 512 71 10 8 9 2
2022 999 1,026 679 2 0 500 65 10 9 13 4
2023 944 950 678 2 0 472 63 10 8 18 5
Average 1,110 1,114 714 2 4 555 81 8 8 13 3

History

The District of Iowa was established by Congress on March 3, 1845, with one post to cover the entire state. Since the District of Iowa was not yet assigned to a judicial circuit, it was 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 July 15, 1862, Statute 12 Stat. 576 repealed the circuit court jurisdiction of the District of Iowa and instead established a United States circuit court in the district, and then assigned the district over to the Ninth Circuit. On July 23, 1866, Statute 14 Stat. 209 reorganized the circuits and assigned the District of Iowa to the Eighth Circuit.

The State of Iowa was divided into two circuits, the Northern and the Southern, on July 20, 1882, by statute 22 Stat. 172. One judgeship was assigned to each district. Over time, one additional judicial post was added for a total of two current posts.[7]

Judicial posts

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the Northern District of Iowa:[7]

Year Statute Total Seats
March 3, 1845 5 Stat. 789 1
July 20, 1882 22 Stat. 172 1
May 19, 1961 75 Stat. 80 2
December 1, 1990 104 Stat. 5089 2

Noteworthy cases

For a list of opinions, click here.

Noteworthy events

Federal Judicial Conference recommendation (2019)

In March 2019, the Federal Judicial Conference (FJC) recommended that one judgeship be added to the district.[14] Based on FJC data, the district handled 482 weighted filings per judgeship from September 2017 to September 2018. Weighted filings are a specific metric used by the federal judiciary that accounts for the different amounts of time judges require to resolve types of civil and criminal cases. The national average in that period for weighted filings per judgeship was 513.[15]

The FJC is the policy-making body for the United States federal courts system. It was first organized as the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges in 1922.[16] The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States serves as chair of the conference. The members of the conference are the chief judge of each judicial circuit, the Chief Judge of the Court of International Trade, and a district judge from each regional judicial circuit.[17]

Federal courthouse

Two separate courthouses serve the Northern District of Iowa located in Cedar Rapids and Sioux City.

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.[18][19]

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.[20]

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.[19]

Step ApprovedA Candidacy Proceeds DefeatedA 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.[21]


See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ U.S. District Court - NH, "Magistrate Judges," archived April 14, 2014
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 United States Courts, "Frequently Asked Questions," accessed January 25, 2022
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, "28 U.S. Code § 136 - Chief judges; precedence of district judges," accessed January 25, 2022
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, "28 U.S. Code § 258 - Chief judges; precedence of judges," accessed January 25, 2022
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, "28 U.S. Code § 45 - Chief judges; precedence of judges," accessed January 25, 2022
  6. ↑ Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, "28 U.S. Code § 171 - Appointment and number of judges; character of court; designation of chief judge," accessed January 25, 2022
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Federal Judicial Center, "The U.S. District Courts and the Federal Judiciary," accessed April 26, 2021
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 WCF Courier, "Judge rules probable cause to proceed with murder charges against Lasley," March 13, 2014
  9. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  10. ↑ The Gazette, "Gordon Lasley Jr. sentenced to life in prison for killing parents," March 24, 2015
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Des Moines Register, "President Trump commutes sentence of Sholom Rubashkin, ex-Iowa slaughterhouse executive," Dec. 20, 2017
  12. ↑ Google News, "25-year term sought in Iowa slaughterhouse case," April 29, 2010
  13. ↑ Department of Justice, "Executive Grant of Clemency," Dec. 20, 2017
  14. ↑ Federal Judicial Conference, "March 2019 Recommendations," accessed April 26, 2021
  15. ↑ US Courts, "Table X-1A—Other Judicial Business (September 30, 2018)," accessed April 23, 2021
  16. ↑ US Courts, "Governance & the Judicial Conference," accessed April 23, 2021
  17. ↑ US Courts, "About the Judicial Conference," accessed April 21, 2021
  18. ↑ US Courts, "Federal Judgeships," accessed May 10, 2021 (archived)
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 U.S. Courts, "United States District Court Federal Judiciary Frequently Asked Questions," accessed May 10, 2021 (archived)
  20. ↑ United States District Courts, "District Courts," accessed May 10, 2021
  21. ↑ The 'Lectric Law Library, "Understanding the U.S. federal courts"
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