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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

Northern District of Texas

David C. Godbey, Chief Judge
Karen Mitchell, Clerk of Court

History of Judges Succession

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Chief Judges of the Northern District of Texas

  • William H. Atwell: 1948 - 1954
  • T. Whitfield Davidson: 1954 - 1959
  • Joe B. Dooley: 1959 - 1959
  • Joe Ewing Estes: 1959 - 1972
  • Leo Brewster: 1972 - 1973
  • William M. Taylor, Jr.:1973 - 1977
  • Halbert O. Woodward: 1977 - 1986
  • Robert W. Porter: 1986 - 1989
  • H. Barefoot Sanders, Jr.: 1989 - 1995
  • Jerry Buchmeyer: 1995 - 2001
  • A. Joe Fish: 2002 - 2007
  • Sidney A. Fitzwater: 2007 - 2014
  • Jorge A. Solis: 2014 - 2016
  • Barbara M. G. Lynn: 2016 - 2022
  • David C. Godbey: 2022 - present

Judges Succession of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas (1879 to present)

Act of Feb. 24, 1879
20 Stat. 318
Act of Feb. 9, 1898
30 Stat. 240
Act of Feb. 26, 1919
40 Stat. 1183
McCormick, Andrew P.
1879-1892
Meek, Edward R.
1898-1935
Wilson, James C.
1919-1947
Rector, John B.
1892-1898 (2)
Davidson, T. Whitfield
1936-1965
Dooley, Joe B.
1947-1966
  Taylor, William M., Jr.
1966-1979
Woodward, Halbert O.
1968-1986
  Buchmeyer, Jerry
1979-2003
Cummings, Sam R.
1987-2015
  Boyle, Jane
2004-present
Hendrix, James Wesley
2019-present

 

Act of Sept. 14, 1922
42 Stat. 8371
Act of May 19, 1961
75 Stat. 80
Atwell, William H.
1923-1954
Hughes, Sarah T.
1961-1975
Brewster, Leo
1961-1973
Estes, Joe Ewing
1955-1972
Higginbotham, Patrick E.
1975-1982
Porter, Robert W.
1974-1990
Mahon, Eldon B.
1972-1989
Fish, A. Joe
1983-2007
Solis, Jorge A.
1991-2016
McBryde, John H.
1990-2018
O'Connor, Reed
2007-present
Scholer, Karen Gren
2018-present
Pittman, Mark T.
2019-present
   

 

Act of June 2, 1970
84 Stat. 294
Act of Oct. 20, 1978
92 Stat. 1629
Hill, Robert M.
1970-1984
Belew, David O., Jr.
1979-1990
Sanders, H. Barefoot, Jr.
1979-1996
Fitzwater, Sidney A.
1986-2018
Means, Terry R.
1991-2013
Lynn, Barbara M. G.
2000-2023
Starr, Brantley
2019-present
Brown, Ada
2019-present
 

 

Act of Oct. 20, 1978
92 Stat. 1629
Act of July 10, 1984
98 Stat. 333
Act of Dec. 1, 1990
104 Stat. 5089
Robinson, Mary Lou
1979-2018
Maloney, Robert B.
1985-2000
Kendall, Joe
1992- 2002
Lindsay, Sam A.
1998-present
Matthew J. Kacsmaryk
2019-present
Godbey, David C.
2002-present
Kinkeade, Ed
2002-present
 

(1) The Act of August 19, 1935, 49 Stat. 659, made this temporary judgeship a permanent one.

(2) When Rector died on April 9, 1898, no successor was appointed, in accordance with the act of Feb. 9, 1898, 30 Stat. 240, which provided, "That no vacancy in the office of the existing district judge of said northern judicial district of Texas shall be filled by appointment, and in case of such vacancy there shall be thereafter one district judge only for said district."