United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa (in case citations, N.D. Iowa) has jurisdiction over fifty-two of Iowa's ninety-nine counties. It is subject to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals (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 Northern District of Iowa
(N.D. Iowa)
The Northern (shades of red) and Southern (shades of blue) Districts of Iowa
Location	Cedar Rapids More locations Federal Building and United States Courthouse (Sioux City) Dubuque Waterloo Fort Dodge Mason City
Appeals to	Eighth Circuit
Established	July 20, 1882
Judges	2
Chief Judge	C. J. Williams
Officers of the court
U.S. Attorney	Timothy T. Duax (acting)
U.S. Marshal	Chris Barther (acting)
www.iand.uscourts.gov

The United States District Court for the District of Iowa, established on March 3, 1845, by 5 Stat. 789,^[1][2] was subdivided into the current Northern and Southern Districts on July 20, 1882, by 22 Stat. 172.^[2]

Presently, the court has two district judges, Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand and Judge C. J. Williams, one senior judge, Linda R. Reade, and two magistrate judges, Kelly Mahoney and Mark A. Roberts.

The court is headquartered in Cedar Rapids, with a satellite courthouse in Sioux City.

As of February 1, 2022^[update], the acting United States attorney is Timothy T. Duax.^[3]

Jurisdiction

Federal judicial districts and divisions in Iowa.

Northern District of Iowa

  Western Division

  Central Division

  Eastern Division

  Cedar Rapids Division

Southern District of Iowa

  Western Division

  Central Division

  Davenport Division

The Northern District of Iowa has four court divisions, each covering the following counties:

The Cedar Rapids Division, covering Benton, Cedar, Grundy, Hardin, Iowa, Jones, Linn, and Tama counties.

The Central Division, covering Butler, Calhoun, Carroll, Cerro Gordo, Emmet, Franklin, Hamilton, Hancock, Humboldt, Kossuth, Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Webster, Winnebago, Worth, and Wright counties.

The Eastern Division, covering Allamakee, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Chickasaw, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Floyd, Howard, Jackson, Mitchell, and Winneshiek counties.

The Western Division, covering Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Crawford, Dickinson, Ida, Lyon, Monona, O'Brien, Osceola, Plymouth, Sac, Sioux, and Woodbury counties.

Current judges

As of February 12, 2024^[update]:

#	Title	Judge	Duty station	Born	Term of service			Appointed by
					Active	Chief	Senior
13	Chief Judge	C. J. Williams	Cedar Rapids	1963	2018–present	2024–present	—	Trump
12	District Judge	Leonard T. Strand	Sioux City	1965	2016–present	2017–2024	—	Obama
11	Senior Judge	Linda R. Reade	Cedar Rapids	1948	2002–2017	2007–2017	2017–present	G.W. Bush

Former judges

#	Judge	State	Born–died	Active service	Chief Judge	Senior status	Appointed by	Reason for termination
1	Oliver Perry Shiras	IA	1833–1916	1882–1903	—	—	Arthur	retirement
2	Henry Thomas Reed	IA	1846–1924	1904–1921	—	1921–1924	T. Roosevelt	death
3	George Cromwell Scott	IA	1864–1948	1922–1943	—	1943–1948	Harding	death
4	Henry Norman Graven	IA	1893–1970	1944–1961	1961	1961–1970	F. Roosevelt	death
5	Edward Joseph McManus	IA	1920–2017	1962–1985	1962–1985	1985–2017	Kennedy	death
6	William Cook Hanson	IA	1909–1995	1962–1977[Note 1]	—	1977–1995	Kennedy	death
7	Donald E. O'Brien	IA	1923–2015	1978–1992[Note 2]	1985–1992	1992–2015	Carter	death
8	David R. Hansen	IA	1938–present	1986–1991	—	—	Reagan	elevation to 8th Cir.
9	Michael Joseph Melloy	IA	1948–present	1992–2002	1992–1999	—	G.H.W. Bush	elevation to 8th Cir.
10	Mark W. Bennett	IA	1950–present	1994–2015	1999–2006	2015–2019	Clinton	retirement

1. Jointly appointed to the Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa.
2. From 1978–1990, Judge O’Brien was jointly appointed to the Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa.

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 established on July 20, 1882 by 22 Stat. 172 Shiras 1882–1903 Reed 1904–1921 Scott 1922–1943 Graven 1944–1961 McManus 1962–1985 Hansen 1986–1991 Melloy 1992–2002 Reade 2002–2017 Williams 2018–present

Seat 2 Seat established on May 19, 1961 by 75 Stat. 80 (concurrent with Southern District) Hanson 1962–1977 Seat reassigned solely to Northern District on December 1, 1990 by 104 Stat. 5089 O'Brien 1978–1992 Bennett 1994–2015 Strand 2016–present

U.S. Attorneys

• Maurice D. O'Connell 1883-86
• Timothy P. Murphy 1886-90
• Maurice D. O'Connell 1890-94
• Cato Sells 1894-98
• Horace G. McMillan 1898-1907
• Frederick F. Faville 1907-13
• Anthony Van Wagenen 1913-14
• Frank A. O'Connor 1914-21
• Guy P. Linville 1921-27
• Bennett E. Rhinehart 1927-31
• Harry M. Reed 1931-34
• Edward G. Dunn 1934-40
• Tobias E. Diamond 1940-52
• Michael L. Mason 1952-53
• F. G. Van Alstine 1953-61
• Donald E. O'Brien 1961-67
• Steve Turner 1967
• Asher E. Schroeder 1967-69
• Evan L. Hultman 1969-77^[4]
• James H. Reynolds 1977-82
• Evan L. Hultman 1982-86
• Robert L. Teig 1986
• Charles W. Larson, Sr. 1986-93^[5]
• Robert L. Teig 1993
• Stephen J. Rapp 1993-2001
• Charles W. Larson, Sr. 2001^[6]-2006
• Judith A. Whetstine 2007
• Matt M. Dummermuth 2007-2009^[7]
• Stephanie M. Rose 2009-2012
• Sean R. Berry 2012-2014^[8]
• Kevin W. Techau 2014-2017
• Peter Deegan 2017-2021
• Sean R. Berry 2021-2022
• Timothy T. Duax 2022-present

See also

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