United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama

The United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama (in case citations, M.D. Ala.) is a United States district court in the Eleventh Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).

United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama
(M.D. Ala.)
Location	Frank M. Johnson Jr. Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse (Montgomery) More locations United States Courthouse (Dothan) G.W. Andrews Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse (Opelika)
Appeals to	Eleventh Circuit
Established	February 6, 1839
Judges	3
Chief Judge	Emily C. Marks
Officers of the court
U.S. Attorney	Kevin P. Davidson (acting)
U.S. Marshal	Jesse Seroyer Jr.
almd.uscourts.gov

The District was established on February 6, 1839.^[1]

The United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Alabama represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. As of August 25, 2024^[update] the acting United States attorney is Kevin P. Davidson.^[2]

Organization of the court

The United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama is one of three federal judicial districts in Alabama.^[3] Court for the District is held at Dothan, Montgomery, and Opelika.

Eastern Division comprises the following counties: Chambers, Lee, Macon, Randolph, Russell, and Tallapoosa.

Northern Division comprises the following counties: Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chilton, Coosa, Covington, Crenshaw, Elmore, Lowndes, Montgomery, and Pike.

Southern Division comprises the following counties: Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Henry, and Houston.

Current judges

As of June 30, 2020^[update]:

#	Title	Judge	Duty station	Born	Term of service			Appointed by
					Active	Chief	Senior
20	Chief Judge	Emily C. Marks	Montgomery	1973	2018–present	2019–present	—	Trump
22	District Judge	R. Austin Huffaker Jr.	Montgomery	1973	2019–present	—	—	Trump
23	District Judge	vacant	—	—	—	—	—	—
14	Senior Judge	Myron H. Thompson	Montgomery	1947	1980–2013	1991–1998	2013–present	Carter
16	Senior Judge	Harold Albritton	Montgomery	1936	1991–2004	1998–2004	2004–present	G.H.W. Bush
19	Senior Judge	William Keith Watkins	Montgomery	1951	2005–2019	2011–2019	2019–present	G.W. Bush

Vacancies and pending nominations

Seat	Prior judge's duty station	Seat last held by	Vacancy reason	Date of vacancy	Nominee	Nominated
4	Montgomery	Andrew L. Brasher	Elevation	June 30, 2020	Bill Lewis	–

Former judges

#	Judge	State	Born–died	Active service	Chief Judge	Senior status	Appointed by	Reason for termination
1	William Crawford	AL	1784–1849	1839–1849[Note 1]	—	—	J.Q. Adams/Operation of law	death
2	John Gayle	AL	1792–1859	1849–1859[Note 1]	—	—	Taylor	death
3	William Giles Jones	AL	1808–1883	1859–1861[Note 2][Note 1]	—	—	Buchanan	resignation
4	George Washington Lane	AL	1806–1863	1861–1863[Note 1]	—	—	Lincoln	death
5	Richard Busteed	AL	1822–1898	1863–1874[Note 3][Note 1]	—	—	Lincoln	resignation
6	John Bruce	AL	1832–1901	1875–1901[Note 4][Note 5]	—	—	Grant	death
7	Thomas G. Jones	AL	1844–1914	1901–1914[Note 6][Note 4]	—	—	T. Roosevelt	death
8	Henry De Lamar Clayton Jr.	AL	1857–1929	1914–1929[Note 4]	—	—	Wilson	death
9	Charles Brents Kennamer	AL	1874–1955	1931–1955[Note 7]	—	—	Hoover	death
10	Frank Minis Johnson	AL	1918–1999	1955–1979[Note 8]	1966–1979	—	Eisenhower	elevation to 5th Cir.
11	Thomas Virgil Pittman	AL	1916–2012	1966–1970[Note 9]	—	—	L. Johnson	seat abolished
12	Robert Edward Varner	AL	1921–2006	1971–1986	1979–1984	1986–2006	Nixon	death
13	Truman McGill Hobbs	AL	1921–2015	1980–1991	1984–1991	1991–2015	Carter	death
15	Joel Fredrick Dubina	AL	1947–present	1986–1990	—	—	Reagan	elevation to 11th Cir.
17	Ira De Ment	AL	1931–2011	1992–2002	—	2002–2011	G.H.W. Bush	death
18	Mark Fuller	AL	1958–present	2002–2015	2004–2011	—	G.W. Bush	resignation
21	Andrew L. Brasher	AL	1981–present	2019–2020	—	—	Trump	elevation to 11th Cir.

1. Jointly appointed to the Middle, Northern, and Southern Districts of Alabama.
2. Recess appointment; formally nominated on January 23, 1860, confirmed by the United States Senate on January 30, 1860, and received commission on January 30, 1860.
3. Recess appointment; formally nominated on January 5, 1864, confirmed by the Senate on January 20, 1864, and received commission on January 20, 1864.
4. Jointly appointed to the Middle and Northern Districts of Alabama.
5. From 1875 to 1886, Judge Bruce was jointly appointed to the Southern District of Alabama.
6. Recess appointment; formally nominated on December 5, 1901, confirmed by the Senate on December 17, 1901, and received commission the same day.
7. From 1931 to 1936, Judge Kennamer was jointly appointed to the Middle and Northern Districts of Alabama.
8. Recess appointment; formally nominated on January 12, 1956, confirmed by the Senate on January 31, 1956, and received commission the same day.
9. Judge Pittman was jointly appointed to the Middle and Southern Districts of Alabama.

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

Seat 1 Seat reassigned concurrent with the Northern and Southern Districts on February 6, 1839 by 5 Stat. 315 Crawford 1839–1849 Gayle 1849–1859 Jones 1859–1861 Lane 1861–1863 Busteed 1864–1874 Concurrency with Southern District abolished on August 2, 1886 by 24 Stat. 213 Bruce 1875–1901 Jones 1901–1914 Clayton, Jr. 1914–1929 Concurrency with Northern District abolished on June 5, 1936 by 49 Stat. 1476 Kennamer 1931–1955 Johnson, Jr. 1955–1979 Thompson 1980–2013 Marks 2018–present

Seat 2 Seat established on March 18, 1966 by 80 Stat. 75 (concurrent with Southern District) Pittman 1966–1970 Seat reassigned solely to Southern District on June 2, 1970 by 84 Stat. 294

Seat 3 Seat established on June 2, 1970 by 84 Stat. 294 Varner 1971–1986 Dubina 1986–1990 Albritton III 1991–2004 Watkins 2005–2019 Huffaker, Jr. 2019–present

Seat 4 Seat established on October 20, 1978 by 92 Stat. 1629 Hobbs 1980–1991 De Ment 1992–2002 Fuller 2002–2015 Brasher 2019–2020 vacant 2020–present

Court decisions

Browder v. Gayle (1956) – Court rules that bus segregation in Montgomery was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment. Decision upheld by U.S. Supreme Court six months later.

Gomillion v. Lightfoot (1958) – Court dismissed action, which was later affirmed by the Fifth Circuit. In 1960, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision, finding that electoral districts drawn in Tuskegee, with the purpose of disenfranchising black voters, violated the Fifteenth Amendment.

Lee v. Macon County Board of Education (1963) – Court rules segregation in schooling was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment. Decision upheld by U.S. Supreme Court.^[4]

United States v. Alabama (1966) – Court rules poll tax violates the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment. U.S. Supreme Court concurred three weeks later in an unrelated case, Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections.

Glassroth v. Moore (2002) – Court rules that a display of the Ten Commandments, erected by Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in the Alabama Judicial Building violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

U.S. attorneys

Name	Term Started	Term Ended	Presidents served under
John A. Minnis	1870	1874	Ulysses S. Grant
N. S. McAfee	1874	1875	Ulysses S. Grant
Charles B. Mayer	1876	1880	Ulysses S. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes
William Hugh Smith	1880	1885	Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Garfield Chester A. Arthur Grover Cleveland
George H. Craig	1885	1885	Grover Cleveland
William H. Denson	1885	1889	Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison
Lewis E. Parsons, Jr.	1889	1893	Benjamin Harrison Grover Cleveland
Henry D. Clayton, Jr.	1893	1896	Grover Cleveland
George F. Moore, Jr.	1896	1897	Grover Cleveland William McKinley
Warren S. Reese, Jr.	1897	1906	William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt
Erastus J. Parsons[5]	1906	1913	Theodore Roosevelt William H. Taft Woodrow Wilson
Thomas D. Samford	1913	1924	Woodrow Wilson Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge
Grady Reynolds	1924	1931	Calvin Coolidge Herbert Hoover
Arthur B. Chilton	1931	1934	Herbert Hoover Franklin D. Roosevelt
Thomas D. Samford	1934	1942	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Edward B. Parker	1942	1953	Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower
Hartwell Davis	1953	1962	Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy
Ben Hardeman	1962	1969	John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon
Leon J. Hopper	1969	1969	Richard Nixon
Ira De Ment	1969	1977	Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter
Barry E. Teague	1977	1981	Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan
John C. Bell	1981	1987	Ronald Reagan
James E. Wilson	1987	1994	Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton
Charles R. Pitt[6]	1994	2001[6]	Bill Clinton George W. Bush
Leura G. Canary[7][8]	2001[7][8]	2011[7][8]	George W. Bush Barack Obama
George L. Beck Jr.[9]	2011[9]	2017[10]	Barack Obama Donald Trump
A. Clark Morris[11][12]	2017	2017	Donald Trump
Louis V. Franklin Sr.[13]	2017[13]	2021	Donald Trump
Sandra J. Stewart[14]	2021	2023	Joe Biden
Jonathan S. Ross (Acting)[15]	2023	present	Joe Biden

See also

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