District Court · Ninth Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thelton Eugene Henderson Senior | 1980 | Jimmy Carter | CAND0703 |
| Saundra Brown Armstrong Senior | 1991 | George H.W. Bush | CAND1003 |
| Claudia Ann Wilken Senior | 1993 | William J. Clinton | CAND1801 |
| Maxine M. Chesney Senior | 1995 | William J. Clinton | CAND0406 |
| Susan Yvonne Illston Senior | 1995 | William J. Clinton | CAND0307 |
| Charles R. Breyer Senior | 1997 | William J. Clinton | CAND0805 |
| William Haskell Alsup Senior | 1999 | William J. Clinton | CAND0704 |
| Phyllis Jean Hamilton Senior | 2000 | William J. Clinton | CAND1901 |
| Jeffrey Steven White Senior | 2002 | George W. Bush | CAND0604 |
| Richard G. Seeborg | 2009 | Barack Obama | CAND0407 |
| Edward John Davila Senior | 2011 | Barack Obama | CAND1602 |
| Edward Milton Chen Senior | 2011 | Barack Obama | CAND1205 |
| Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers | 2011 | Barack Obama | CAND1403 |
| Jon Steven Tigar | 2012 | Barack Obama | CAND1004 |
| William Horsley Orrick III Senior | 2013 | Barack Obama | CAND0806 |
| James Donato | 2014 | Barack Obama | CAND1103 |
| Beth Labson Freeman | 2014 | Barack Obama | CAND2001 |
| Vince Girdhari Chhabria | 2014 | Barack Obama | CAND0308 |
| Haywood Stirling Gilliam Jr. | 2014 | Barack Obama | CAND1802 |
| Jacqueline Scott Corley | 2022 | Joseph R. Biden | CAND0705 |
| Trina Lynn Thompson | 2022 | Joseph R. Biden | CAND1902 |
| Araceli Martinez-Olguin | 2023 | Joseph R. Biden | CAND0605 |
| Patrick Casey Pitts | 2023 | Joseph R. Biden | CAND1703 |
| Rita Faye Lin | 2023 | Joseph R. Biden | CAND1206 |
| Eumi Kim Lee | 2024 | Joseph R. Biden | CAND0807 |
| Noël Wise | 2024 | Joseph R. Biden | CAND1603 |
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
- 26
- Seat numbers on record
- 77
| Seat | Held by | Since | Holders to date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAND0307 | Susan Yvonne Illston | 1995 | 1 |
| CAND0308 | Vince Girdhari Chhabria | 2014 | 1 |
| CAND0406 | Maxine M. Chesney | 1995 | 1 |
| CAND0407 | Richard G. Seeborg | 2010 | 1 |
| CAND0604 | Jeffrey Steven White | 2002 | 1 |
| CAND0605 | Araceli Martinez-Olguin | 2023 | 1 |
| CAND0703 | Thelton Eugene Henderson | 1980 | 1 |
| CAND0704 | William Haskell Alsup | 1999 | 1 |
| CAND0705 | Jacqueline Scott Corley | 2022 | 1 |
| CAND0805 | Charles R. Breyer | 1997 | 1 |
| CAND0806 | William Horsley Orrick III | 2013 | 1 |
| CAND0807 | Eumi Kim Lee | 2024 | 1 |
| CAND1003 | Saundra Brown Armstrong | 1991 | 1 |
| CAND1004 | Jon Steven Tigar | 2013 | 1 |
| CAND1103 | James Donato | 2014 | 1 |
| CAND1205 | Edward Milton Chen | 2011 | 1 |
| CAND1206 | Rita Faye Lin | 2023 | 1 |
| CAND1403 | Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers | 2011 | 1 |
| CAND1602 | Edward John Davila | 2011 | 1 |
| CAND1603 | Noël Wise | 2024 | 1 |
| CAND1703 | Patrick Casey Pitts | 2023 | 1 |
| CAND1801 | Claudia Ann Wilken | 1993 | 1 |
| CAND1802 | Haywood Stirling Gilliam Jr. | 2014 | 1 |
| CAND1901 | Phyllis Jean Hamilton | 2000 | 1 |
| CAND1902 | Trina Lynn Thompson | 2022 | 1 |
| CAND2001 | Beth Labson Freeman | 2014 | 1 |
51 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAND0101 | Ogden Hoffman Jr. | 1866 | 1 |
| CAND0201 | Ogden Hoffman Jr. | 1891 | 1 |
| CAND0202 | William W. Morrow | 1897 | 1 |
| CAND0203 | John Jefferson DeHaven | 1913 | 1 |
| CAND0204 | Maurice Timothy Dooling | 1924 | 1 |
| CAND0205 | Adolphus Frederic St. Sure | 1949 | 1 |
| CAND0206 | Herbert Wilson Erskine | 1951 | 1 |
| CAND0207 | Monroe Mark Friedman | 1953 | 1 |
| CAND0208 | Oliver Deveta Hamlin Jr. | 1958 | 1 |
| CAND0209 | Lloyd Hudson Burke | 1988 | 1 |
| CAND0301 | William Cary Van Fleet | 1923 | 1 |
| CAND0302 | Frank Henry Kerrigan | 1935 | 1 |
| CAND0303 | Michael Joseph Roche | 1964 | 1 |
| CAND0304 | Albert Charles Wollenberg | 1981 | 1 |
| CAND0305 | William W Schwarzer | 2017 | 1 |
| CAND0306 | Barbara A. Caulfield | 1994 | 1 |
| CAND0401 | John Slater Partridge | 1926 | 1 |
| CAND0402 | Harold Louderback | 1941 | 1 |
| CAND0403 | Louis Earl Goodman | 1961 | 1 |
| CAND0404 | Stanley Alexander Weigel | 1997 | 1 |
| CAND0405 | John P. Vukasin Jr. | 1993 | 1 |
| CAND0501 | Martin Ignatius Welsh | 1953 | 1 |
| CAND0502 | Dal Millington Lemmon | 1954 | 1 |
| CAND0503 | Sherrill Halbert | 1966 | 1 |
| CAND0601 | George Bernard Harris | 1983 | 1 |
| CAND0602 | Robert Howard Schnacke | 1994 | 1 |
| CAND0603 | Charles A. Legge | 2001 | 1 |
| CAND0701 | Oliver Jesse Carter | 1976 | 1 |
| CAND0702 | Cecil F. Poole | 1980 | 1 |
| CAND0801 | Edward Preston Murphy | 1958 | 1 |
| CAND0802 | William Thomas Sweigert | 1983 | 1 |
| CAND0803 | William Horsley Orrick Jr. | 2003 | 1 |
| CAND0804 | Delwen Lowell Jensen | 2014 | 1 |
| CAND0901 | Thomas Jamison MacBride | 1966 | 1 |
| CAND1001 | Alfonso Joseph Zirpoli | 1995 | 1 |
| CAND1002 | William Austin Ingram | 2002 | 1 |
| CAND1101 | Robert Francis Peckham | 1993 | 1 |
| CAND1102 | James Ware | 2012 | 1 |
| CAND1201 | Gerald Sanford Levin | 1971 | 1 |
| CAND1202 | Charles Byron Renfrew | 1980 | 1 |
| CAND1203 | Eugene F. Lynch | 1997 | 1 |
| CAND1204 | Martin J. Jenkins | 2008 | 1 |
| CAND1301 | Samuel Conti | 2018 | 1 |
| CAND1302 | Fern M. Smith | 2005 | 1 |
| CAND1401 | Spencer Mortimer Williams | 2008 | 1 |
| CAND1402 | Vaughn R. Walker | 2011 | 1 |
| CAND1501 | Robert Peter Aguilar | 1996 | 1 |
| CAND1502 | Jeremy D. Fogel | 2018 | 1 |
| CAND1601 | Marilyn Hall Patel | 2012 | 1 |
| CAND1701 | Ronald M. Whyte | 2023 | 1 |
| CAND1702 | Lucy Haeran Koh | 2021 | 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
- 24
- Republican
- 2
| President | Judges |
|---|---|
| Barack Obama | 10 |
| Joseph R. Biden | 7 |
| William J. Clinton | 6 |
| George H.W. Bush | 1 |
| Jimmy Carter | 1 |
| George W. Bush | 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)