United States District Court for the District of Delaware

District of Delaware
Third Circuit
Judgeships
Posts: 4
Judges: 4
Vacancies: 0
Judges
Chief: Colm Connolly
Active judges: Colm Connolly, Jennifer Hall, Maryellen Noreika, Gregory Williams Senior judges: Richard G. Andrews, Joseph Longobardi

The United States District Court for the District of Delaware is one of 94 United States district courts. The court operates out of Wilmington, Delaware. When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit based in downtown Philadelphia at the James Byrne Courthouse.

Vacancies

See also: Current federal judicial vacancies

There are no current vacancies on the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.

Pending nominations

There are no pending nominees for this court.

Active judges

Article III judges

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
Colm Connolly	Donald Trump (R)	August 3, 2018 -	University of Notre Dame, 1986	Duke University School of Law, 1991
Maryellen Noreika	Donald Trump (R)	August 9, 2018 -	Lehigh University, 1988	University of Pittsburgh School of Law, 1993
Gregory Williams	Joe Biden (D)	September 1, 2022 -	Millersville University of Pennsylvania, 1990	Villanova University School of Law, 1995
Jennifer Hall	Joe Biden (D)	January 4, 2024 -	University of Minnesota, 1997	University of Pennsylvania Law School, 2006

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.

• Democrat appointed: 2
• Republican appointed: 2

Senior judges

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
Joseph Longobardi	Ronald Reagan (R)	June 15, 1997 -	Washington College, 1952	Temple University Law, 1957
Richard G. Andrews	Barack Obama (D)	December 31, 2023 -	Haverford College, 1977	University of California, Berkeley School of Law, 1981

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.

• Democrat 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
Mary Pat Thynge		June 17, 1992 -	Miami University, 1972	Ohio Northern University, 1975
Christopher J. Burke		August 4, 2011 -	Georgetown University, 1997	University of Michigan, 2000
Sherry R. Fallon		April 25, 2012 -	University of Pennsylvania, 1983	Delaware Law School of Widener University, 1986

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.

Leonard Stark - (2014 - 2021) Greg Sleet - (2007 - 2014) Sue Robinson - (2000 - 2007) Joseph Farnan - (1996 - 2000) Joseph Longobardi - (1989 - 1996)

Murray Schwartz - (1985 - 1989) Walter Stapleton - (1983 - 1985) James Latchum - (1973 - 1983) Caleb Wright - (1957 - 1973) Paul Leahy - (1948 - 1957)

Former judges

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

Jurisdiction

The Counties of Delaware (click for larger map)

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

The jurisdiction of the District of Delaware consists of all the counties in the State of Delaware. The court's headquarters are in Wilmington.

Caseloads

This section contains court management statistics dating back to 2010. It was last updated in August 2023. 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

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	1,366	1,162	1,760	4	12	342	22	8	9	219	14
2011	1,525	1,260	1,990	4	10	382	22	8	10	216	12
2012	1,993	1,491	2,514	4	0	498	19	9	8	239	10
2013	2,374	2,054	2,823	4	0	594	19	10	7	279	11
2014	1,809	2,231	2,403	4	0	452	21	11	11	288	13
2015	1,450	1,920	1,935	4	0	363	15	15	13	205	12
2016	1,562	1,428	2,071	4	0	391	15	11	9	268	14
2017	2,080	1,982	2,168	4	19	520	16	13	6	200	10
2018	2,259	2,050	2,383	4	19	565	13	11	6	211	10
2019	2,619	2,434	2,582	4	0	655	21	8	5	232	10
2020	1,937	2,098	2,484	4	0	484	17	9	7	288	12
2021	1,993	2,116	2,401	4	0	498	19	15	7	314	14
2022	1,819	2,193	2,078	4	0	455	23	15	8	313	17
Average	1,907	1,878	2,276	4	5	477	19	11	8	252	12

History

The District of Delaware was established by Congress on September 24, 1789 with one post to cover the entire state. Over time three additional judicial posts were added to the court for a total of four current posts.

Judicial posts

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

Year	Statute	Total Seats
September 24, 1789	1 Stat. 73	1
July 24, 1946	60 Stat. 654	2(1 temporary)
September 5, 1950	64 Stat. 578	2
February 10, 1954	68 Stat. 8	3
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	4

Noteworthy cases

For a searchable list of opinions, please see Opinions of the District of Delaware.

• Sex tourist case (2010)      Judge(s):Greg Sleet	Click for summary→
Judge Sleet presided in the trial of Thomas Pendelton who was found guilty of traveling out of the nation to have sex with an underage girl. On February 3, 2010, he was sentenced to thirty years in prison, ten more than what the federal guidelines required. The judge felt the sentence would protect children from "further acts of depravity."

• Delaware River dredging case (2009)      Judge(s):Sue Robinson	Click for summary→
Judge Robinson was the judge presiding in the case of the required dredging of the Delaware River. On December 9, 2009, the judge found that the State of Delaware was not granted an injunction to block the Army Corps of Engineers to begin the dredging of the Delaware River. On January 27, 2010, Judge Robinson denied an injunction from the State of Delaware from requiring the Army Corps of Engineers to get permits from the state in order to deepen a channel in the Delaware River which is part of a dredging project. The State wanted a permit process to examine environmental impacts, but the judge denied the injunction on the basis of a 1992 law passed by Congress that would allow for the dredging project to occur.

Noteworthy events

Federal Judicial Conference recommendation (2019)

In March 2019, the Federal Judicial Conference (FJC) recommended that one judgeship be added to the district. Based on FJC data, the district handled 898 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.

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. 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.

Federal courthouse

One federal courthouse serves the District of Delaware: the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Wilmington.

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 July 1 of the fourth year of each president's term in office. At this point in the term, President Joe Biden had the most district court appointments with 156.

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 Third Circuit
• United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
• United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
• District Court of the Virgin Islands

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• US District Court for District of Delaware
• US Attorney's Office for the District of Delaware
• Opinions of the District of Delaware