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HISTORY OF U. S. DISTRICT COURTFOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIAFEDERAL COURT IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA BASIC STRUCTURE OF FEDERAL COURT JURISDICTION OF FEDERAL TRIAL COURTS FEDERAL COURT IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA - PRIOR TO 1818 FEDERAL COURT IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA - AFTER 1818 JUDGES OF COURT OF APPEALS FROM WESTERN DISTRICT UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT AND WESTERN DISTRICT CHIEF JUDGE DONETTA W. AMBROSE MAURICE B. COHILL, JR., Senior Judge WILLIAM L. STANDISH, Senior Judge KIM R. GIBSON AMY REYNOLDS HAY INTRODUCTIONThe United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania was created by an Act of Congress on April 20, 1818. The court is recognized throughout the nation for its standards of excellence, fairness and professionalism.
The United States District Court is a trial court within the federal judicial system and is designated as part of the Third Circuit. The district court has jurisdiction over all federal civil and criminal matters arising in twenty-five counties of Western Pennsylvania. The federal courthouse is located in Pittsburgh, and two satellite courthouses are located in Erie and Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
Fifty-one men and women have served as judges of the district court. From 1818 until 1909, the district court was a "one-judge" court. At present, there are 10 authorized active district court judgeships. Three judges who formerly served on the court, Joseph F. Weis, Jr., Carol Los Mansmann and Timothy K Lewis, have served or now serve as members of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Each year the federal courts are challenged with new and often complex litigation that inevitably follows the enactment by Congress of additional laws. During the 1980's, the Speedy Trial Act and the Sentencing Guidelines impacted profoundly on the work of the district court. New civil rights statutes and the burgeoning area of employment litigation also added to the court's increasing case inventory throughout the 80's and 90's. Despite nagging judicial vacancies during most of those years, the judges of the Western District have confronted their increased caseloads with determination and a continued commitment to administering justice promptly and fairly. It is with great pride that the following men and women, who have dedicated their lives to serving the people of this district and the administration of justice, present this history of the court.
Donetta W, Ambrose Chief Judge Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
THE FEDERAL COURT SYSTEM IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
Historians have noted that the absence of Federal Courts in western Pennsylvania was a precipitating cause of the "Whiskey Rebellion" of 1794. Although a special statute had been enacted by the Congress in June 1794 which would have permitted Federal Excise Tax matters to be heard by the state courts sitting in the newly dedicated courthouse on Pittsburgh's Market Square, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton caused summonses to be served in July 1794 upon the western Pennsylvania distillers who had failed to comply with the Federal Excise law which commanded the dissident farmers to go to the Federal Court in Philadelphia to argue their cause--a journey so expensive and so burdensome as to render impractical any serious effort to challenge the validity or appropriateness of the hated tax. Whether Hamilton's action was the result of oversight or an intentional provocation was debated then and has been debated since, but anger over it was the spark which ignited the tinder, leading to the attacks on federal agents and the indignant and tumultuous meetings which caused President Washington to call out more than 10,000 militiamen. Ironically, it was also the absence of Federal Courts in western Pennsylvania which was largely responsible for the acquittal of nearly all of the persons who were charged with treason in the aftermath of the "insurrection", for the United States prosecutors discovered that the burden, expense and futility of transporting unsympathetic witnesses over the mountains to Philadelphia for the trials in the spring, summer and fall of 1795 made impossible the effective prosecution of the western insurgents. Since those earliest days, there have been few instances which so dramatically demonstrate the need for federal courts in western Pennsylvania, but these courts have played an important role in our lives. In the pages which follow, there is a description of the Federal Judicial system, followed by a history of the United States Courts in the Western District of Pennsylvania since the establishment of the District in 1818, with biographies of all the present judges of the District Court and of those Judges on the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit who come from the Western District.
"The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience, the felt necessities of the time, the prevalent moral and political theories, intuitions of public policy, avowed or unconscious, even the prejudices which judges share with their fellow men, have had a good deal more to do than the syllogism in determining the rules by which men should be governed..." -Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes THE FEDERAL JUDICIAL SYSTEM
Few aspects of our legal system have demonstrated more constantly the truth of Justice Holmes' aphorism than the growth of the Federal Court system. The Federalist Papers reveal the deep division which existed among the delegates at the Constitutional Convention concerning the desirability of even establishing a separate system of Federal Courts. Many delegates felt that appellate review by the United States Supreme Court was all that was needed to protect federal interests and that the establishment of a duplicate system of federal trial courts was unnecessary. Proponents of the "Patterson" plan (which would have left all litigation at trial level to state courts) outnumbered the delegates who were in favor of the "Randolph" proposal which provided for a complete Federal Court system. The constitutional basis for the establishment of Lower Federal Courts exists only because of a compromise proposal sponsored by Madison and Wilson which provides for the judiciary Article of the United States Constitution under which Congress has the option to establish such lower Federal Courts as it deems appropriate. The constitutional debates over the Judiciary Article also encompassed methods of appointment, compensation, tenure, and jurisdiction--all of which problems were eventually resolved by resort to a pragmatic compromise of conflicting interests and political necessities, with what has been characterized as "an insight approaching genius" and which led ultimately to the creation of a Federal Court system described by Mr. Justice Frankfurter in his book on the Federal Courts as a "transcendent achievement."
THE BASIC STRUCTURE OF THE FEDERAL COURT SYSTEM
The judiciary Article (Article III) of the Federal Constitution lists the matters which are embraced within the judicial power of the United States and created the United States Supreme Court and gave it original jurisdiction over cases "affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers ... and those to which a State shall be a party" and appellate jurisdiction over all other cases within federal judicial power, subject to "such exceptions and under such regulations as the Congress shall make." In addition, Article III provides that the Congress may from time to time establish such "inferior courts" as it shall desire. Congress exercised its authority to create inferior federal courts in its first session. The Judiciary Act of 1789 created two sets of trial courts: District Courts and Circuit Courts. The Circuit Courts were not the Courts of Appeals with which present day lawyers are familiar, although they had some appellate jurisdiction. The principal jurisdiction of the District Courts was in admiralty, minor criminal matters and later, bankruptcy proceedings. The Circuit Courts were given jurisdiction over major federal criminal offenses, over actions at law or in equity between citizens of different states or between citizens and aliens, and appellate jurisdiction over the District Courts. The Judiciary Act of 1789 also provided for the Supreme Court's organization and gave it appellate jurisdiction over Circuit Courts in civil actions and over state courts where the final judgment of the highest court of the state turned upon a federal question. In time the judicial system created by the Judiciary Act of 1789 required adjustment, but except for the politically controversial "Midnight Judges' Act" of 1801 (which was repealed in 1802) the alterations which were made were piecemeal in character. The growth of the country required gradual expansion in the original court system, so it grew from its original three judicial circuits (Eastern, Middle and Southern) to its present structure of eleven judicial circuits, each consisting of a number of districts. The number of Justices on the Supreme Court fluctuated from three to ten before stabilizing at its present level of nine. Except for the creation of some courts of specialized jurisdiction, the first major change in the basic judicial system created by the act of 1789 was the creation, more than one hundred years later, of intermediate appellate courts known as "Circuit Courts of Appeal." The Judiciary Act of 1891 stripped the existing circuit courts of their appellate jurisdiction, although they continued to exist as important trial courts having jurisdiction of serious criminal cases and civil jurisdiction in diversity cases, special federal matters, and federal question cases until the passage of the Judicial Code of 1911 which finally transferred the remaining functions of the circuit courts to the district courts. For seventy years after the Judicial Code of 1911, the structure of the federal judicial system remained substantially the same. It was not until 1982 that Congress deemed it necessary to make a fundamental change in the federal judicial system by creating the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. From time to time in our history, Congress has responded to structural problems in the judicial system by creating special courts such as the Territorial Courts (which exercised power in the western territories until such sections were admitted as States of the Union or in such areas as the Philippines until they were given their independence); the Court of Private Land Claims (founded to hear and determine claims founded upon Spanish or Mexican grants in the southwestern territory); the United States Court for China; and the Choctaw and Chickasaw Citizenship Court (created in 1902 to hear and determine membership claims in those two Indian Tribes). Special Courts created by Congress have also included the Courts for the District of Columbia, the Court of Claims, the Customs Court, and the Court of Customs and Patents Appeals. Although most of the special courts no longer exist, the District of Columbia Courts remain a vital part of the federal judicial system. The Court of Claims, the Customs Court, and the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals passed out of existence in the early 1980s, but laid an important foundation for the creation of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The Federal Courts Improvement Act of 1982, which established the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, continued the tradition of Congressional response to special needs of the judicial system. The Federal Courts Improvement Act had three stated purposes: to create an appellate forum capable of exercising nationwide jurisdiction over appeals in areas of the law where Congress determines there is a special need for nationwide uniformity; to improve the administration of the patent law by centralizing appeals in patent cases; and to provide an upgraded and better organized trial forum for government claims cases. These goals were accomplished by merging the Court of Claims and the Court of Customs and Patents Appeals to create the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The bill also created a new Article I trial forum known as the United States Claims Court, which inherited the trial jurisdiction of the Court of Claims. The Tax Court and the Military Courts are not considered formally to be a part of the federal judicial system. The Tax Court is an independent agency in the Executive Branch of the Federal Government, while the Military Courts are concerned with the administration of justice in the Armed Forces. Although they are not part of the federal judicial system, both courts are subject in important respects to the limitations and requirements of the Federal Constitution. The structure of the present federal judicial system may be summarized as follows: At the top is the Supreme Court of the United States with limited but important original jurisdiction; with broad appellate jurisdiction over the lower federal courts; and with appellate jurisdiction over the highest court of every State where its judgment turns upon a substantial federal question. At an intermediate level are the Courts of Appeals for the eleven Judicial Circuits. Except for those limited cases where there is a direct appeal from a trial court to the Supreme Court, the Courts of Appeals have the responsibility of reviewing decisions of the District Courts. The parties have a limited right to seek further review by the United States Supreme Court, but the Courts of Appeals are the courts of last resort in the vast bulk of both civil and criminal cases which are decided in the United States Courts. The basic trial courts in the federal system are the District Courts. The first Judiciary Act of 1789 created the District Courts, but limited their jurisdiction to admiralty cases and minor crimes. Later they became bankruptcy courts and were given jurisdiction of all criminal charges except capital offenses. When the Judicial Code of 1911 abolished the Circuit Courts, the District Courts took over the trial jurisdiction of those Courts. The judicial structure recently has undergone another change due to the creation of the United States Bankruptcy Courts. Although still an adjunct to the District Courts, the Bankruptcy Courts have, since 1984, resolved virtually all matters arising in or related to a bankruptcy case, and all matters arising under the Bankruptcy Code. The District Courts remain, however, the basic federal trial courts and have jurisdiction in the areas of federal criminal charges, admiralty, and of civil actions where there is diversity of citizenship between the claimants, or which involve an undecided question of federal law, or where some statute of the United States specifically confers jurisdiction upon the courts to hear disputes of that nature.
THE JURISDICTION OF THE FEDERAL TRIAL COURTS
State trial courts usually have broad inherent judicial powers, but the lower federal courts have only the jurisdiction and power which the Congress specifically allocated to them. Historically, Congress has granted the federal trial courts power to hear cases involving certain types of private civil litigation, civil litigation involving the United States, and prosecutions for offenses under the laws of the United States. In addition, some cases begun in the state courts may be removed to the federal courts. Perhaps the most important source of private civil litigation in the federal courts has been the courts' jurisdiction to decide controversies between citizens of different states where the dispute involves at least a minimum amount. The amount necessary was originally set at $500 and has been increased from time to time to its present level of $75,000. Other principal sources of private civil litigation in federal trial courts are admiralty and maritime causes and so-called "federal question" cases which, surprisingly, could not be brought in federal courts until after the Civil War. The early Congresses used sparingly their authority to vest the federal courts with jurisdiction of cases arising under the Constitution, laws or treaties of the United States. The only significant area in which this power was exercised was in giving federal courts the power to remove and hear proceedings commenced in state courts against federal officers. It was not until the Judiciary Act of 1875 that the federal trial courts were given general jurisdiction of suits of a civil nature "arising under the Constitution or laws of the United States" where the amount in controversy exceeded $500. The tendency in the second half of the courts' two hundred year history has been to reduce diversity jurisdiction, while broadening and increasing the power and role of the court in the area of federal question jurisdiction. Since 1895, Congress has created innumerable federal rights and provided for their enforcement in the federal courts, often without regard to the amounts in controversy. Under these measures federal courts have been opened to damage and injunction suits under such measures as the Interstate Commerce Acts, the Antitrust laws, the Copyright and Trademark laws, the Federal Employers Liability Acts, the statutes providing for the redress of injuries of seamen, Internal Revenue laws, Postal matters, Immigration and Naturalization proceedings, the Securities and Exchange laws, the National Labor Relations Act, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and many others. In contrast, in this same period the courts' diversity jurisdiction has been steadily narrowed by statutes and by decisions of the courts themselves. Still further limitations are under consideration. These trends reflect concomitant changes in our social and political structures. Originally, the most deep-felt need for federal courts in the field of civil litigation was to provide an impartial tribunal to hear controversies between citizens of the different states. Increasingly, the emphasis has shifted to providing federal tribunals to enforce federally created rights. Just as expansion of federally-based rights and the power of federal tribunals to enforce them reflect the increasing presence of the Federal Government in our lives, so the narrowing of diversity jurisdiction may reveal the decline of sectionalism and regional bias as a significant factor in our society.
THE FEDERAL COURTS IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
Prior to 1818
In 1789, Congress exercised its power under the Federal Constitution to establish lower federal courts by establishing a two-tiered court system below the Supreme Court. A District Court, presided over by a district court judge, was established for each state. Circuit Courts, with both Nisi Prius and Appellate power, were also established. The country was divided into three judicial circuits, designated as southern, middle and eastern. Pennsylvania was in the middle district. There were no circuit judges, but Justices of the Supreme Court and District Court Judges sat on the Circuit Courts. In 1801 the number of judicial circuits was increased to six, with Pennsylvania being assigned to the Third Circuit, where it has remained ever since. Under the Act of 1789, provision was made for sessions of the district court and of the circuit court for the district of Pennsylvania to be held both in Philadelphia and in York, but in 1796 Congress decided that the sessions should be held only in Philadelphia. The Judiciary Act of 1801 divided Pennsylvania into Eastern and Western districts, with sessions of the Eastern District to be held in Philadelphia and those of the Western District at Bedford. This Act was repealed in 1802 and the federal circuit and district courts continued to be held only in Philadelphia, as before, until 1818. << Table of Contents >>
The Western District of Pennsylvania was established by the Act of April 20, 1818, which divided the Commonwealth into two judicial districts. The Western District consisted of the counties of Fayette, Greene, Washington, Allegheny, Westmoreland, Somerset, Bedford, Huntingdon, Centre, Mifflin, Clearfield, McKean, Potter, Jefferson, Cambria, Indiana, Armstrong, Butler, Beaver, Mercer, Crawford, Venango, Erie and Warren. The Act provided that the residue of the State should compose the Eastern District. The Act of 1818 also authorized the President to appoint a District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania and provided for a salary of $1600 per year. In addition to its jurisdiction as a District Court, the District Court for the Western District was given all the Nisi Prius power of the Circuit Court within the District, but appeals from the District Court of the Western District were taken to the Circuit Court in the Eastern District. This was changed by the Act of May 15,1820, which, in effect, gave the District Court for the Western District all of the powers of a Circuit Court. Originally, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania held sessions only in Pittsburgh, but in May 1824, Congress altered the judicial districts in Pennsylvania by adding the counties of Susquehanna, Bradford, Tioga, Union, Northumberland, Columbia, Luzerne and Lycoming to the Western District. This Act also provided that the Court should hold two sessions every year at Williamsport, in addition to the sessions held at Pittsburgh. In 1866, Congress provided that the District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania should also begin holding sessions in Erie, Pennsylvania. The first session of the District Court in Erie was held in January 1867, with Judge Wilson McCandless presiding. In 1901, the Middle District of Pennsylvania was created, removing from the Western District all of the counties which had been added to it by the Act of 1824 and in addition severing Huntingdon, Centre, Mifflin and Potter counties. Most recently, in 1989 the District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania acted upon a longstanding Congressional authorization and announced that it would hold sessions in Johnstown, Cambria County, with Judge D. Brooks Smith presiding. After the Western District of Pennsylvania was established in 1818, President James Monroe appointed Jonathan H.Walker to be first Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The Act of 1818 called for the first session of the Court to be held in June 1818, but the Court did not get organized in time and the first session was held in Pittsburgh on December 7, 1818, in the Courthouse in Pittsburgh which then occupied the western half of Market Square. All sessions of the United States Courts held in Pittsburgh until 1841 were held in the Market Square Courthouse, for it was not until 1853 that court facilities were provided for in a Federal Building in Pittsburgh. In 1841, the Federal Courthouse moved into the new State Courthouse which had been constructed on Grant's Hill, at the corner of Grant, Fourth and Ross Streets and in which Federal Courts were given space on the Second floor, along with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The first Federal Building in Pittsburgh was erected in 1853 at Fifth Avenue and Smithfield Street on the site of the present Park Building. Known variously as the "Custom House," "Pittsburgh Postoffice" and "Federal Government Building", this building was the first Federal home for the United States Courts in the Western District of Pennsylvania and sessions were held there until July 1891, when the courts were removed to the newly constructed United States Postoffice and Courthouse Building at Fourth Avenue and Smithfield Streets. Federal Courts were held at the Fourth Avenue Courthouse until November 7, 1934, when the present Courthouse at Grant Street and Seventh Avenue was opened. The Federal Building and Post Office at Fourth Avenue and Smithfield Street has been razed, but many of the elegant decorative features and architectural details of the handsome old building have been preserved at various sites throughout the city. Much of the decorative ironwork and decorative carving that adorned the building can be seen at the headquarters of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation location at Station Square. The collection of remnants preserved by the Foundation includes beautifully carved Federal Eagles. Granite statutes of the Goddess of Justice are also on that site, just outside the Station Square Shops. A statue has also been preserved in the courtyard adjacent to the building that was formerly the "Edge", a restaurant and motel that overlooked the city from Mt. Washington.
THE JUDGES OF THE DISTRICT COURT FORTHE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIASince its establishment in 1818, only 41 persons have served as Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Counting those serving as Senior Judges, eleven of the 41 are presently serving on the Court. Thus, more than one-fourth of those who have ever been Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania are presently serving. This is not surprising, when one considers that it was not until 1909 that the complement of the Court consisted of more than one judge. The caseload of the Court has burgeoned since the beginning of this Century and this has been reflected by the increase in the number of judges sitting on the Court. Some of the judges who have served in the District Court over the years have been well-known figures in local legal history. Others apparently had quiet or undistinguished careers, for little can be learned about them. Among those who have served the longest on the Court include Judge Thomas Irwin, who served from 1832 to 1859; Judge Robert Gibson, who served from 1922 to 1949; and former Chief Judge Wallace S. Gourley who was appointed in 1945 and served until 1976. The longest period of judicial service recorded by any western Pennsylvanian, however, was the record fifty-five years rendered by Judge Joseph Buffington, who served as a Judge of the District Court from 1892 to 1906, when he was appointed to the Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Buffington served actively on that Court until 1938 when he took Senior status. Thereafter, he frequently presided over the Court as its Senior Judge until his death on October 21, 1947. His remarkable career encompassed a span which covered nearly a third of the Republic's existence at the time of his death. Many living persons remember Judge Buffington and many currently active members of the Bar have argued cases before him. Ida O. Creskoff, retired Clerk of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, wrote to the Editors of her memories of the famous Colonial courtroom over which Judge Buffington presided for many years as Senior Judge of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. There were three chairs for the Judges, because that was the full complement of the Court. Logs burned in the beautiful fireplace on cold days and the lawyers sat in comfortable leather chairs. The woodwork was a work of art. Below are listed the named of the persons who have served as judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, including those serving at the present time. Jonathan M. Walker-April 20, 1818-January, 1824 William Wilkins--May 12, 1824-April 14, 1831 Thomas Irwin-March 2, 1832-January 2, 1859 Wilson McCandless-February 8, 1859-July 24, 1876 Winthrop W. Ketchum-June 26, 1876-December 6, 1879 Marcus W. Acheson-January 14, 1880-February 7, 1891 James H. Reed-February 20, 1891-February 15, 1892 Joseph Buffington-February 23, 1882-September, 1906 Nathaniel Ewing-September 25, 1906-January 31, 1908 James S. Young-February 1, 1908-February 25, 1914 Charles P. Orr-April 8, 1909-May 16, 1922 W. H. Seward Thomson-July 21, 1914-February 21, 1929 Robert M. Gibson-July 24, 1922-January 31, 1949 Frederic P. Schoonmaker-December 22, 1922-September 6, 1945 Nelson McVicar-September 14, 1928-February 1, 1951 Wallace S. Gourley-December 17, 1945-September 23, 1976 (Senior status 8-4-69) Owen McIntosh Burns-November 3, 1949--October 26, 1952 Rabe F. Marsh, Jr.-June 26, 1950 - (Senior status 1-31-77 - Retired 4-1-86) William Alvah Stewart-May 4, 1951-April 9, 1953 Frederick V. Follmer-August 7, 1946-May 31, 1955 (Originally assigned to all three districts in Pennsylvania, Judge Follmer's assignment was limited to the Middle District after Judge Watson's retirement in 1955. He continued to serve until December 30, 1957.) Joseph P. Willson-July 24, 1953 - (Senior status 10-18-68 - Retired 8-3-98) John L. Miller-June 18, 1954-July 20, 1978 (Senior status 10-1-71) John Mcllvaine-August 18,1955-July 1, 1963 Herbert P. Sorg-August 19, 1955-March 11, 1979 (Senior status 12-20-76) Edward Dumbauld-August 1, 1961 - (Senior status 12-31-76 - Retired 9-6-97) Louis Rosenberg-November 20,1961 - (Senior status 1-5-76 - Retired 12-31-89) Gerald J. Weber-October 2, 1964-August 28, 1989 (Senior status 12-31-88) Joseph F. Weis, Jr.-May 5,1970 -March 27,1973 (Appointed to Court of Appeals-Third Circuit) William W. Knox--October 14,1970-August 30,1981 Hubert I. Teitelbaum-January 11, 1971 -(Senior status 7-2-85 - Retired 1-5-95) Barron P. McCune-January 22, 1971-(Senior status-4-1-85-Retired-4-30-95) Ralph F. Scalera-December 17, 1971-May 1, 1976 (Returned to private practice) Daniel J. Snyder, Jr.-April 26,1973-May 11, 1980 Maurice B. Cohill, Jr.-June 1, 1976 to present (Senior status-11-28-94) Paul A. Simmons-May 3, 1978-(Senior status-6-1-90-Retired 12-31-90) Gustave Diamond-May 24, 1978 to present (Senior status 2-1-94) Donald E. Ziegler-May 22, 1978 to present (Senior status 10-1-01-Retired 05-31-03) Alan N. Bloch-November 21, 1979 to present (Senior status 4-12-97) Glenn E. Mencer-April 16, 1982 to present (Senior status 4-18-94-Retired 4-30-94) Carol Los Mansmann-April 8,1982 (Appointed to Court of Appeals-Third Circuit 4-22-85) William L. Standish-November 30,1987 to present (Senior status 3-1-02) D. Brooks Smith-November 1, 1988 (Appointed to Court of Appeals-Third Circuit 9-23-02) Donald J. Lee-April 6, 1990 to present (Senior status 4-6-00-Retired 1-13-03) Timothy K. Lewis-July 1, 1991 (Appointed to Court of Appeals-Third Circuit 10-23-92-resigned 6-30-99) Donetta W. Ambrose- January 3, 1994 to present Gary L. Lancaster-December 17, 1993 to present Robert J. Cindrich-October 12, 1994 to present Sean J. McLaughlin-October 13, 1994 to present Joy Flowers Conti-August 30, 2002 to present David Stewart Cercone-September 12, 2002 to present Terrence F. McVerry-September 27, 2002 to present Arthur J. Schwab-January 1, 2003 to present Kim R. Gibson-October 20, 2003 to present Thomas M. Hardiman-October 30, 2003 to present The following judges have served as Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania:
<< Table of Contents >> JUDGES OF THE COURT OF APPEALS FROM THEWESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIAThe original United States Circuit Courts were not the counterparts of the present Courts of Appeals. Although the Circuit Courts had appellate jurisdiction they retained over the District Courts which until 1891, they also had Nisi Prius jurisdiction which they retained until the Judicial Code of 1911 transferred these functions to the District Courts. Except for a brief period under the Act of 1801, there were no judges of the Circuit Court before 1869, for District Judges and Justices of the Supreme Court served in this capacity. The Act of 1801 provided for the appointment of Circuit Judges and in the period from February 1801 until the repeal of the Act in July 1802, three men served as Circuit Judges for the Third Circuit: William Griffith, Richard Bassett and William Tilghman. None of these men was from the western part of the State and, of course, the Western District had not yet been established. In 1869, Congress provided a circuit judgeship for each of the nine existing circuits. Under this Act, the Circuit Court could be held by either the circuit justice, the circuit judge or a district judge. William McKennan of Washington County was appointed circuit judge of the Third Circuit on December 22,1869, and served until January 3,1891. The term "Circuit Judge" as used today refers to those persons who have served on the Federal Appellate Courts created by the Judiciary Act of 1891. The following Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania were appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit: Marcus W. Acheson-February 9, 1891-June 21, 1906 Joseph Buffington-September, 1906-October 21, 1947 Joseph F. Weis, Jr.-March 1973 to present Carol Los Mansmann-April 1985-March 9, 2002 Timothy K. Lewis-October 23, 1992-June 30, 1999 D. Brooks Smith-September 23, 2002 to present In addition, the following individuals who resided in the Western District also served as Judges in the United States court of Appeals for the Third Circuit: Charles Alvin Jones-July 25, 1939-December 31, 1944 John J. O'Connell--October 15,1945-December 16,1949 Austin L. Staley-July 31,1950-August 3,1978 David Stahl-October 31, 1968-February 21, 1970 Ruggero J. Aldisert-August 22, 1968 to present (Senior status since 1989) Richard Lowell Nygaard-May 21, 1988 to present Judge Charles Alvin Jones resigned from the Court in December 1944 to accept appointment to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and later became Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reviews decisions of the District Courts of Delaware, New Jersey, and the Virgin Islands and of the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Pennsylvania. Sessions of the Court are held in Philadelphia and occasionally in the Virgin Islands. From time to time in recent years, the Court has held sessions in Pittsburgh. Judges of the Court of Appeals sit, with Judges of the District Court, in proceedings in the District Courts where an injunction is sought on Federal constitutional grounds against the enforcement of a State statute or an Act of Congress on the ground that it is repugnant to the United States Constitution. From time to time, District Judges also sit with the Court of Appeals and participate in decisions of that court.
THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT ANDTHE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
Justices of the United States Supreme Court have always taken a role in the administration of the lower federal courts. In the early days, they frequently sat as trial judges in the circuit courts, but the practice gradually ceased. In the period from 1789 to 1801 there was no formal assignment of a Supreme Court Justice to any particular Circuit, but the Justices would sit in each of the three circuits which then existed. Beginning in 1802, provision was made for the assignment of a particular Justice of the Supreme Court to each of the federal circuits. Since 1802, the following Justices had been assigned to the Third Judicial Circuit: Bushrod Washington, 1802-1829; Henry Baldwin, 1830-1844; Robert Cooper Grier, 1846-1870; William Strong, 1870-1880; Joseph P. Bradley, 1880-1892; John Marshall Harlan, 1892 (Feb. 1 to Oct. 1); George Shiras, Jr., 1892-1903; Henry B. Brown, 1903-1906; William H. Moody, 1906-1910; Horace H. Lurton, 1910-1912; Mahlon Pitney, 1912-1922; Edward T. Sanford, 1923 (Jan. 9 to Feb. 20); Pierce Butler, 1923-1925; Louis D. Brandeis, 1925-1930; Owen T. Roberts, 1930-1945; Harold H. Burton, 1945-1956; William J. Brennan, Jr., 1956 to present. Only three residents of the Western District of Pennsylvania have served as Justices of the Supreme Court. These were Henry Baldwin, Robert Cooper Grier, and George Shiras, Jr. Henry Baldwin was born in Connecticut in 1780. He graduated from Yale College and later studied law in the office of Alexander J. Dallas of Philadelphia. After he was admitted to the Bar, Baldwin moved to Pittsburgh and was admitted to practice before the Allegheny County Courts in 1801. He became a partner with Tarleton Bates and Walter Forward, both well known lawyers of early Pittsburgh. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1816 and became a friend and supporter of Andrew Jackson. When Bushrod Washington died in November, 1829, three prominent Pennsylvanians were in contention for nomination to the Supreme Court to fill his seat: Horace Binney, John Bannister Gibson and Henry Baldwin. Baldwin was finally designated by President Jackson in 1830. He served on the Supreme Court until his death on April 21, 1844, after a somewhat surprisingly undistinguished career as a Supreme Court justice, much of it marred by illness. Robert C. Grier was born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania in March 1794. He graduated from Dickinson College in 1812, and after studying law in the office of a Northumberland lawyer was admitted to the Bar in 1817. Although not a resident of Allegheny County, in 1833 he was appointed a Judge of the State Courts in Allegheny County and moved to Pittsburgh. In 1846, he was designated by President James K. Polk to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court created by the death of Justice Baldwin. He served until his resignation because of poor health, in 1869. George Shiras, Jr. has been the only native western Pennsylvanian to serve on the United States Supreme Court. He was born in Pittsburgh in January 1832 and studied at Ohio University at Athens, Ohio and Yale. He read law in the office of former Common Pleas Court Judge Hopewell Hepburn and became a partner with him until Judge Hepburn's death. He later practiced with his two sons. At the age of sixty, Shiras was appointed to the Supreme Court in July 1892 by President Benjamin Harrison. He retired in 1903, fulfilling a personal commitment to retire at age seventy. He lived to age 92 in good mental and physical health, dying in Pittsburgh in 1924. One historian has said of him: ". . Shiras' tenure on the bench deserved more attention from commentators ... (than he received at his death) ... for he had been an exceptionally competent Justice-independent minded, though generally middle-of-the-road, and, in a modest way, a defender of civil liberties."
CHIEF JUDGE DONETTA W. AMBROSEThe Honorable DONETTA W. AMBROSE was born on November 5, 1945 in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Chester J. and Mary Groza Wypiski. She married J. Raymond Ambrose, Jr. on August 19, 1972. They have one son, J. Raymond Ambrose, III. She graduated from Arnold High School in 1963, Duquesne University in 1967, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and was awarded a J.D. cum laude at the Duquesne University School of Law in 1970. She was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in December 1970 and is a member of the Westmoreland County, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, American and Women's Bar Associations. She is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a member of the American Judicature Society, the National Association of Women Judges, and the Inns of Court. She was a law clerk to the late Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Louis L. Manderino from 1970 to 1972, an Assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1972 to 1974, an Assistant District Attorney for Westmoreland County from 1977 to 1982 and engaged in the general practice of law from 1974 to 1982. She was elected to the Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas in November of 1981 on which she served from January 1982 until her appointment to the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on November 24, 1993. She has been active in the Pennsylvania Commission for Women in the Profession, Big Brothers and Sisters of Westmoreland County and various civic, religious and charitable activities. She resides with her family in Lower Burrell, Pennsylvania. MAURICE
B. COHILL, JR., Senior Judge
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