United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi

Appeals toFifth CircuitEstablishedJune 18, 1838Judges3Chief JudgeDebra M. BrownOfficers of the courtU.S. AttorneyClay Joyner (acting)U.S. MarshalDaniel McKittrickwww.msnd.uscourts.gov

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi (in case citations, N.D. Miss.) is a federal court in the Fifth Circuit with facilities in Aberdeen, Greenville, and Oxford.

Appeals from cases brought in the Northern District of Mississippi are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).

The United States attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. As of March 1, 2021^[update] the acting United States attorney is Clay Joyner.^[1]

Jurisdiction

The northern district comprises three divisions.

1. The Aberdeen Division comprises the counties of Alcorn, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Clay, Itawamba, Lee, Lowndes, Monroe, Oktibbeha, Prentiss, Tishomingo, Webster, and Winston.
   The court for the Aberdeen Division is held at Aberdeen, Ackerman, and Corinth.
2. The Oxford Division comprises the counties of Benton, Calhoun, DeSoto, Lafayette, Marshall, Panola, Pontotoc, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tippah, Tunica, Union, and Yalobusha.
   The court for the Oxford Division is held at Oxford, Pittsboro, and Pontotoc.
3. The Greenville Division comprises the counties of Attala, Bolivar, Carroll, Coahoma, Grenada, Humphreys, Leflore, Montgomery, Sunflower, and Washington.
   The court for the Greenville Division is held at Clarksdale, Cleveland, and Greenville.

Current judges

As of November 1, 2021^[update]:

#	Title	Judge	Duty station	Born	Term of service			Appointed by
					Active	Chief	Senior
16	Chief Judge	Debra M. Brown	Greenville	1963	2013–present	2021–present	—	Obama
15	District Judge	Sharion Aycock	Aberdeen	1955	2007–present	2014–2021	—	G.W. Bush
17	District Judge	vacant	—	—	—	—	—	—
12	Senior Judge	Glen H. Davidson	Aberdeen	1941	1985–2007	2000–2007	2007–present	Reagan
14	Senior Judge	Michael P. Mills	Oxford	1956	2001–2021	2007–2014	2021–present	G.W. Bush

Vacancies and pending nominations

Seat	Prior judge's duty station	Seat last held by	Vacancy reason	Date of vacancy	Nominee	Date of nomination
3	Oxford	Michael P. Mills	Senior status	November 1, 2021	–	–

Former judges

#	Judge	State	Born–died	Active service	Chief Judge	Senior status	Appointed by	Reason for termination
1	George Adams	MS	1784–1844	1838[Note 1][Note 2]	—	—	Jackson/Operation of law	resignation
2	Samuel J. Gholson	MS	1808–1883	1839–1861[Note 2]	—	—	Van Buren	resignation
3	Robert Andrews Hill	MS	1811–1900	1866–1891[Note 2]	—	—	A. Johnson	retirement
4	Henry Clay Niles	MS	1850–1918	1891–1918[Note 3][Note 2]	—	—	B. Harrison	death
5	Edwin R. Holmes	MS	1878–1961	1918–1929[Note 2]	—	—	Wilson	seat abolished
6	Elijah Allen Cox	MS	1887–1974	1929–1957	—	1957–1974	Coolidge	death
7	Claude Feemster Clayton	MS	1909–1969	1958–1967	1966–1967	—	Eisenhower	elevation to 5th Cir.
8	William Colbert Keady	MS	1913–1989	1968–1983	1968–1982	1983–1989	L. Johnson	death
9	Orma Rinehart Smith	MS	1904–1982	1968–1978	—	1978–1982	L. Johnson	death
10	Lyonel Thomas Senter Jr.	MS	1933–2011	1979–1998	1982–1998	1998–2011	Carter	death
11	Neal Brooks Biggers Jr.	MS	1935–2023	1984–2000	1998–2000	2000–2023	Reagan	death
13	W. Allen Pepper Jr.	MS	1941–2012	1999–2012	—	—	Clinton	death

Chief judges

Chief judges have administrative responsibilities with respect to their district court. Unlike the Supreme Court, where one justice is specifically nominated to be chief, the office of chief judge rotates among the district court judges. To be chief, a judge must have been in active service on the court for at least one year, be under the age of 65, and have not previously served as chief judge.

A vacancy is filled by the judge highest in seniority among the group of qualified judges. The chief judge serves for a term of seven years, or until age 70, whichever occurs first. The age restrictions are waived if no members of the court would otherwise be qualified for the position.

When the office was created in 1948, the chief judge was the longest-serving judge who had not elected to retire, on what has since 1958 been known as senior status, or declined to serve as chief judge. After August 6, 1959, judges could not become or remain chief after turning 70 years old. The current rules have been in operation since October 1, 1982.

Succession of seats

List of U.S. Attorneys

The U.S. Attorney is the chief law enforcement officer for the Northern District of Mississippi.^[2]

• Samuel F. Butterworth (1838–1841)
• Oscar F. Bledsoe (1841–1848)
• Andrew K. Blythe (1848–1850)
• Woodson T. Ligon (1850–1853)
• Nathaniel S. Price (1853–1854)
• John A. Orr (1854–1857)
• Flavius J. Lovejoy (1857)
• G. W. Wells (1870)
• Thomas Walton (1876–1878)
• Green C. Chandler (1878–1885)
• Charles B. Howry (1885–1889)
• Henry C. Niles (1889–1891)
• Mack A. Montgomery (1891–1893)
• Andrew F. Fox (1893–1896)
• Chapman L. Anderson (1896–1897)
• Mack A. Montgomery (1897–1905)
• William D. Frazee (1905–1912)
• Lester G. Fant (1912–1914)
• Wilson S. Hill (1914–1921)
• J. L. Roberson (1921)
• Samuel E. Oldham (1921–1925)
• John H. Cook (1925–1929)
• Lester G. Fant (1929–1937)
• George T. Mitchell (1937–1942)
• James O. Day (1942–1945)
• Chester I. Sumners (1945–1951)
• Noel H. Malone (1951–1954)
• Chester L. Sumners (1954)
• Thomas R. Ethridge (1954–1961)
• B. Euple Dozier (1961)
• Hosea M. Ray (1961–1981)
• Glen H. Davidson (1981–1985)
• Robert Q. Whitwell (1985–?)

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2023)

See also

• Courts of Mississippi
• List of current United States district judges
• List of United States federal courthouses in Mississippi

Footnotes

Further reading

• David M. Hargrove, Mississippi's Federal Courts: A History. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2019.

External links

• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi

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