District Court · Fourth Circuit
U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina
The federal trial court. Juries sit here, evidence is heard here, and almost every federal case begins here.
The bench
Who sits on this court?
Judges in active service, when they were confirmed, and who nominated each.
| Judge | Since | Nominated by | Seat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph Fletcher Anderson Jr. Senior | 1986 | Ronald Reagan | SCD0402 |
| David C. Norton | 1990 | George H.W. Bush | SCD0504 |
| Henry Michael Herlong Jr. Senior | 1991 | George H.W. Bush | SCD1001 |
| Cameron McGowan Currie Senior | 1994 | William J. Clinton | SCD0802 |
| Terry L. Wooten Senior | 2001 | George W. Bush | SCD1101 |
| Robert Bryan Harwell Senior | 2004 | George W. Bush | SCD0902 |
| Richard Mark Gergel | 2010 | Barack Obama | SCD1002 |
| Timothy Martin Cain | 2011 | Barack Obama | SCD0703 |
| Mary Geiger Lewis | 2012 | Barack Obama | SCD0306 |
| Bruce Howe Hendricks | 2014 | Barack Obama | SCD0605 |
| Donald Cecil Coggins Jr. | 2017 | Donald J. Trump | SCD0403 |
| Sherri Allen Lydon | 2019 | Donald J. Trump | SCD0804 |
| Joseph Dawson III | 2020 | Donald J. Trump | SCD1102 |
| Jacquelyn Denise Austin | 2024 | Joseph R. Biden | SCD0204 |
| Sheria Akins Clarke | 2026 | Donald J. Trump | SCD0903 |
Source · Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, 1789–present (public domain)
What seats does this court have?
Each seat on this court, who holds it, and how many judges have held it before.
- Judges seated now
- 15
- Seat numbers on record
- 46
| Seat | Held by | Since | Holders to date |
|---|---|---|---|
| SCD0204 | Jacquelyn Denise Austin | 2024 | 1 |
| SCD0306 | Mary Geiger Lewis | 2012 | 1 |
| SCD0402 | Joseph Fletcher Anderson Jr. | 1986 | 1 |
| SCD0403 | Donald Cecil Coggins Jr. | 2017 | 1 |
| SCD0504 | David C. Norton | 1990 | 1 |
| SCD0605 | Bruce Howe Hendricks | 2014 | 1 |
| SCD0703 | Timothy Martin Cain | 2011 | 1 |
| SCD0802 | Cameron McGowan Currie | 1994 | 1 |
| SCD0804 | Sherri Allen Lydon | 2019 | 1 |
| SCD0902 | Robert Bryan Harwell | 2004 | 1 |
| SCD0903 | Sheria Akins Clarke | 2026 | 1 |
| SCD1001 | Henry Michael Herlong Jr. | 1991 | 1 |
| SCD1002 | Richard Mark Gergel | 2010 | 1 |
| SCD1101 | Terry L. Wooten | 2001 | 1 |
| SCD1102 | Joseph Dawson III | 2020 | 1 |
31 seat numbers with no sitting judge
These are seat numbers in the historical record with nobody currently in them. That usually means the seat was abolished or renumbered, not that it is open today — Congress has changed the size of federal courts many times. Do not read this as a vacancy list.
| Seat | Last held by | Until | Holders |
|---|---|---|---|
| SCD0101 | William Drayton | 1790 | 1 |
| SCD0102 | Thomas Bee | 1812 | 1 |
| SCD0103 | John Drayton | 1822 | 1 |
| SCD0104 | Thomas Lee | 1839 | 1 |
| SCD0105 | Robert Budd Gilchrist | 1856 | 1 |
| SCD0106 | Andrew Gordon Magrath | 1860 | 1 |
| SCD0107 | George Seabrook Bryan | 1886 | 1 |
| SCD0108 | Charles Henry Simonton | 1893 | 1 |
| SCD0109 | William Hiram Brawley | 1911 | 1 |
| SCD0110 | Henry Augustus Middleton Smith | 1912 | 1 |
| SCD0201 | James Robert Martin Jr. | 1984 | 1 |
| SCD0202 | George Ross Anderson Jr. | 2016 | 1 |
| SCD0203 | Julianna Michelle Childs | 2022 | 1 |
| SCD0301 | Robert Witherspoon Hemphill | 1983 | 1 |
| SCD0302 | William Walter Wilkins | 1986 | 1 |
| SCD0303 | Karen LeCraft Henderson | 1990 | 1 |
| SCD0304 | Dennis W. Shedd | 2002 | 1 |
| SCD0305 | Henry Franklin Floyd | 2011 | 1 |
| SCD0401 | Charles Earl Simons Jr. | 1999 | 1 |
| SCD0501 | Charles Cecil Wyche | 1966 | 1 |
| SCD0502 | Donald Stuart Russell | 1971 | 1 |
| SCD0503 | Solomon Blatt Jr. | 2016 | 1 |
| SCD0601 | Robert Foster Chapman | 1981 | 1 |
| SCD0602 | Clyde H. Hamilton | 1991 | 1 |
| SCD0603 | William Byrd Traxler Jr. | 1998 | 1 |
| SCD0604 | Margaret B. Seymour | 2022 | 1 |
| SCD0701 | Matthew James Perry Jr. | 2011 | 1 |
| SCD0702 | Patrick Michael Duffy | 2019 | 1 |
| SCD0801 | Falcon Black Hawkins Jr. | 2005 | 1 |
| SCD0803 | A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr. | 2018 | 1 |
| SCD0901 | Charles Weston Houck | 2017 | 1 |
This site does not publish a vacancy count. Seat identifiers are not stable across court renamings and reorganisations, so a seat that was vacated and refilled can appear empty when it is not. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts publishes the authoritative list of current judicial vacancies: uscourts.gov.
Seats are created by Congress and filled by the President with the Senate's consent. For current vacancies, use the Administrative Office's published list rather than inferring them from this table.
Source · Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, 1789–present (public domain)
How this bench was built
Who appointed them?
The tally of presidents who placed the sitting judges on this court.
- Republican
- 9
- Democratic
- 6
| President | Judges |
|---|---|
| Barack Obama | 4 |
| Donald J. Trump | 4 |
| George W. Bush | 2 |
| George H.W. Bush | 2 |
| Ronald Reagan | 1 |
| Joseph R. Biden | 1 |
| William J. Clinton | 1 |
The party of the president who appointed a judge is a matter of record. How that judge will rule is not, and this site draws no inference from one to the other.
Source · Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, 1789–present (public domain)