United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio is one of two United States district courts in Ohio and includes forty-eight of the state's eighty-eight counties. Appeals from the court are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit at Cincinnati.

The court is divided into two divisions. The Eastern Division, which sits in the Joseph P. Kinneary United States Courthouse at Columbus, serves the counties of Athens, Belmont, Coshocton, Delaware, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Gallia, Guernsey, Harrison, Hocking, Jackson, Jefferson, Knox, Licking, Logan, Madison, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Morrow, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Pickaway, Pike, Ross, Union, Vinton, and Washington

The Western Division sits at both Cincinnati and Dayton. Cases from the counties of Adams, Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, Highland, Lawrence, Scioto, and Warren are heard at Cincinnati in the Potter Stewart United States Courthouse. Cases from the counties of Champaign, Clark, Darke, Greene, Miami, Montgomery, Preble, and Shelby are heard at Dayton.

The court, as of 2004, has seven active judges (eight are authorized by law) and six senior judges. The chief judge is Sandra Beckwith.

The United States Attorney's Office of the Southern District of Ohio represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. As of 2004, the United States Attorney is Gregory G. Lockhart .

History

• The act of February 19, 1803, 2 Stat. 201, organized Ohio as a judicial district and authorized one judgeship for the U.S. district court. The district court in Ohio, not being assigned to a judicial circuit, was granted the same jurisdiction as U.S. circuit courts, except in appeals and writs of error, which were the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

• By the act of February 24, 1807, 2 Stat. 420, the authority of the Ohio district court to exercise the jurisdiction of a U.S. circuit court was repealed. Ohio was to the newly organized Seventh Circuit. It also provided for a U.S. circuit court for the District of Ohio.
• Under the act of February 10, 1855, 10 Stat. 604, Ohio was divided into two judicial districts, the Northern and the Southern, with one judgeship authorized for each district. The district judge serving the District of Ohio was reassigned to the Southern District of Ohio.
• Under the act of July 23, 1866, 14 Stat. 209, Congress reorganized the circuits and assigned Ohio to the Sixth Circuit.
• Congress by the act of February 24, 1910, 36 Stat. 202, created one additional judgeship.
• Under the act of August 25, 1937, 50 Stat. 805, Congress created one additional judgeship for the Southern District.
• Under the act of March 18, 1966, 80 Stat. 75, Congress created one additional judgeship for the Southern District.
• Under the act of June 2, 1970, 84 Stat. 294, Congress created one additional judgeship for the Southern District.
• Under the act of October 20, 1978, 92 Stat. 1629, Congress created one additional judgeship for the Southern District.
• Under the act of July 10, 1984, 98 Stat. 347, Congress created one additional judgeship for the Southern District.
• Under the act of December 1, 1990, 104 Stat. 5089, Congress created one additional judgeship for the Southern District.

Information on the legislative history of the court is from the public domain Federal Judiciary Center judicial history page here.

External links

• The court's official site
• U.S. Attorney's site, with map of district

See also

• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
• Federal judge
• United States federal judicial district