District Court · Fourth Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude M. Hilton Senior | 1985 | Ronald Reagan | VAED1001 |
| Rebecca Beach Smith Senior | 1989 | George H.W. Bush | VAED0209 |
| Robert E. Payne Senior | 1992 | George H.W. Bush | VAED0403 |
| Leonie M. Brinkema | 1993 | William J. Clinton | VAED0702 |
| Raymond Alvin Jackson Senior | 1993 | William J. Clinton | VAED0802 |
| Henry E. Hudson Senior | 2002 | George W. Bush | VAED1201 |
| Mark Steven Davis | 2008 | George W. Bush | VAED0306 |
| Anthony John Trenga Senior | 2008 | George W. Bush | VAED1103 |
| John Adrian Gibney Jr. Senior | 2010 | Barack Obama | VAED0404 |
| Arenda Lauretta Wright Allen Senior | 2011 | Barack Obama | VAED0504 |
| Mary Hannah Lauck | 2014 | Barack Obama | VAED0603 |
| Rossie David Alston Jr. | 2019 | Donald J. Trump | VAED0903 |
| David John Novak | 2019 | Donald J. Trump | VAED1202 |
| Roderick Charles Young | 2020 | Donald J. Trump | VAED0210 |
| Patricia Tolliver Giles | 2021 | Joseph R. Biden | VAED1003 |
| Michael Stefan Nachmanoff | 2021 | Joseph R. Biden | VAED1104 |
| Elizabeth Wilson Hanes | 2022 | Joseph R. Biden | VAED0405 |
| Jamar Kentrell Walker | 2023 | Joseph R. Biden | VAED0803 |
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
- 18
- Seat numbers on record
- 52
| Seat | Held by | Since | Holders to date |
|---|---|---|---|
| VAED0209 | Rebecca Beach Smith | 1989 | 1 |
| VAED0210 | Roderick Charles Young | 2020 | 1 |
| VAED0306 | Mark Steven Davis | 2008 | 1 |
| VAED0403 | Robert E. Payne | 1992 | 1 |
| VAED0404 | John Adrian Gibney Jr. | 2010 | 1 |
| VAED0405 | Elizabeth Wilson Hanes | 2022 | 1 |
| VAED0504 | Arenda Lauretta Wright Allen | 2011 | 1 |
| VAED0603 | Mary Hannah Lauck | 2014 | 1 |
| VAED0702 | Leonie M. Brinkema | 1993 | 1 |
| VAED0802 | Raymond Alvin Jackson | 1993 | 1 |
| VAED0803 | Jamar Kentrell Walker | 2023 | 1 |
| VAED0903 | Rossie David Alston Jr. | 2019 | 1 |
| VAED1001 | Claude M. Hilton | 1985 | 1 |
| VAED1003 | Patricia Tolliver Giles | 2021 | 1 |
| VAED1103 | Anthony John Trenga | 2008 | 1 |
| VAED1104 | Michael Stefan Nachmanoff | 2021 | 1 |
| VAED1201 | Henry E. Hudson | 2002 | 1 |
| VAED1202 | David John Novak | 2019 | 1 |
34 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| VAED0101 | St. George Tucker | 1825 | 1 |
| VAED0102 | George Hay | 1830 | 1 |
| VAED0103 | Philip Pendleton Barbour | 1836 | 1 |
| VAED0104 | Peter Vivian Daniel | 1841 | 1 |
| VAED0105 | John Young Mason | 1844 | 1 |
| VAED0106 | James Dandridge Halyburton | 1861 | 1 |
| VAED0107 | John Curtiss Underwood | 1864 | 1 |
| VAED0201 | John Curtiss Underwood | 1873 | 1 |
| VAED0202 | Robert William Hughes | 1898 | 1 |
| VAED0203 | Edmund Waddill Jr. | 1921 | 1 |
| VAED0204 | Duncan Lawrence Groner | 1931 | 1 |
| VAED0205 | Luther B. Way | 1943 | 1 |
| VAED0206 | Charles Sterling Hutcheson | 1969 | 1 |
| VAED0207 | Oren Ritter Lewis | 1983 | 1 |
| VAED0208 | David Dortch Warriner | 1986 | 1 |
| VAED0301 | Robert Nelson Pollard | 1954 | 1 |
| VAED0302 | Albert Vickers Bryan | 1961 | 1 |
| VAED0303 | John Decker Butzner Jr. | 1967 | 1 |
| VAED0304 | Robert Reynold Merhige Jr. | 1998 | 1 |
| VAED0305 | Thomas Selby Ellis III | 2025 | 1 |
| VAED0401 | Walter Edward Hoffman | 1996 | 1 |
| VAED0402 | Joseph Calvitt Clarke Jr. | 2004 | 1 |
| VAED0501 | Richard Boykin Kellam | 1996 | 1 |
| VAED0502 | Robert George Doumar | 2023 | 1 |
| VAED0503 | Jerome B. Friedman | 2011 | 1 |
| VAED0601 | John Ashton MacKenzie | 1998 | 1 |
| VAED0602 | James Randolph Spencer | 2017 | 1 |
| VAED0701 | Albert Vickers Bryan Jr. | 2019 | 1 |
| VAED0801 | Richard Leroy Williams | 2011 | 1 |
| VAED0901 | James Chris Cacheris | 2018 | 1 |
| VAED0902 | Gerald Bruce Lee | 2017 | 1 |
| VAED1002 | Liam O'Grady | 2023 | 1 |
| VAED1101 | Henry Coke Morgan Jr. | 2022 | 1 |
| VAED1102 | Walter DeKalb Kelley Jr. | 2008 | 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.
- Democratic
- 9
- Republican
- 9
| President | Judges |
|---|---|
| Joseph R. Biden | 4 |
| Barack Obama | 3 |
| Donald J. Trump | 3 |
| George W. Bush | 3 |
| William J. Clinton | 2 |
| George H.W. Bush | 2 |
| Ronald Reagan | 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)