District Court · Third Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donetta W. Ambrose Senior | 1993 | William J. Clinton | PAWD0603 |
| Joy Flowers Conti Senior | 2002 | George W. Bush | PAWD0703 |
| David S. Cercone Senior | 2002 | George W. Bush | PAWD0305 |
| Arthur J. Schwab Senior | 2002 | George W. Bush | PAWD0903 |
| Nora Barry Fischer Senior | 2007 | George W. Bush | PAWD0804 |
| Cathy Bissoon | 2011 | Barack Obama | PAWD1104 |
| Mark Raymond Hornak | 2011 | Barack Obama | PAWD0604 |
| Susan Paradise Baxter | 2018 | Donald J. Trump | PAWD0507 |
| Marilyn Jean Horan | 2018 | Donald J. Trump | PAWD0119 |
| J. Nicholas Ranjan | 2019 | Donald J. Trump | PAWD1005 |
| William Shaw Stickman IV | 2019 | Donald J. Trump | PAWD0704 |
| Stephanie Lou Haines | 2019 | Donald J. Trump | PAWD0306 |
| Robert John Colville | 2019 | Donald J. Trump | PAWD0904 |
| William Scott Hardy | 2020 | Donald J. Trump | PAWD0805 |
| Christy Criswell Wiegand | 2020 | Donald J. Trump | PAWD0207 |
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
- 66
| Seat | Held by | Since | Holders to date |
|---|---|---|---|
| PAWD0119 | Marilyn Jean Horan | 2018 | 1 |
| PAWD0207 | Christy Criswell Wiegand | 2020 | 1 |
| PAWD0305 | David S. Cercone | 2002 | 1 |
| PAWD0306 | Stephanie Lou Haines | 2019 | 1 |
| PAWD0507 | Susan Paradise Baxter | 2018 | 1 |
| PAWD0603 | Donetta W. Ambrose | 1993 | 1 |
| PAWD0604 | Mark Raymond Hornak | 2011 | 1 |
| PAWD0703 | Joy Flowers Conti | 2002 | 1 |
| PAWD0704 | William Shaw Stickman IV | 2019 | 1 |
| PAWD0804 | Nora Barry Fischer | 2007 | 1 |
| PAWD0805 | William Scott Hardy | 2020 | 1 |
| PAWD0903 | Arthur J. Schwab | 2002 | 1 |
| PAWD0904 | Robert John Colville | 2019 | 1 |
| PAWD1005 | J. Nicholas Ranjan | 2019 | 1 |
| PAWD1104 | Cathy Bissoon | 2011 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| PAWD0101 | Jonathan Hoge Walker | 1824 | 1 |
| PAWD0102 | William Wilkins | 1831 | 1 |
| PAWD0103 | Thomas Irwin | 1859 | 1 |
| PAWD0104 | Wilson McCandless | 1876 | 1 |
| PAWD0105 | Winthrop Welles Ketcham | 1879 | 1 |
| PAWD0106 | Marcus Wilson Acheson | 1891 | 1 |
| PAWD0107 | James Hay Reed | 1892 | 1 |
| PAWD0108 | Joseph Buffington | 1906 | 1 |
| PAWD0109 | Nathaniel Ewing | 1908 | 1 |
| PAWD0110 | James Scott Young | 1914 | 1 |
| PAWD0111 | W. H. Seward Thomson | 1932 | 1 |
| PAWD0112 | Nelson McVicar | 1960 | 1 |
| PAWD0113 | William Alvah Stewart | 1953 | 1 |
| PAWD0114 | John Lester Miller | 1978 | 1 |
| PAWD0115 | Ralph Francis Scalera | 1976 | 1 |
| PAWD0116 | Paul Allen Simmons | 2014 | 1 |
| PAWD0117 | Timothy K. Lewis | 1992 | 1 |
| PAWD0118 | Gary L. Lancaster | 2013 | 1 |
| PAWD0201 | Charles Prentiss Orr | 1922 | 1 |
| PAWD0202 | Robert Murray Gibson | 1949 | 1 |
| PAWD0203 | Rabe Ferguson Marsh Jr. | 1993 | 1 |
| PAWD0204 | Donald Emil Ziegler | 2003 | 1 |
| PAWD0205 | Terrence F. McVerry | 2021 | 1 |
| PAWD0206 | Peter Joseph Phipps | 2019 | 1 |
| PAWD0301 | Frederic Palen Schoonmaker | 1945 | 1 |
| PAWD0302 | Wallace Samuel Gourley | 1976 | 1 |
| PAWD0303 | Hubert Irving Teitelbaum | 1995 | 1 |
| PAWD0304 | Donald John Lee | 2011 | 1 |
| PAWD0401 | Frederick Voris Follmer | 1955 | 1 |
| PAWD0501 | Owen McIntosh Burns | 1952 | 1 |
| PAWD0502 | Joseph Putnam Willson | 1998 | 1 |
| PAWD0503 | Joseph Francis Weis Jr. | 1973 | 1 |
| PAWD0504 | Daniel John Snyder Jr. | 1980 | 1 |
| PAWD0505 | Glenn Everell Mencer | 2007 | 1 |
| PAWD0506 | Sean J. McLaughlin | 2013 | 1 |
| PAWD0601 | John Wilson McIlvaine | 1963 | 1 |
| PAWD0602 | Gerald Joseph Weber | 1989 | 1 |
| PAWD0701 | Herbert Peter Sorg | 1979 | 1 |
| PAWD0702 | Alan Neil Bloch | 2024 | 1 |
| PAWD0801 | Edward Dumbauld | 1997 | 1 |
| PAWD0802 | Gustave Diamond | 2021 | 1 |
| PAWD0803 | Robert J. Cindrich | 2004 | 1 |
| PAWD0901 | Louis Rosenberg | 1999 | 1 |
| PAWD0902 | Maurice Blanchard Cohill Jr. | 2022 | 1 |
| PAWD1001 | William W. Knox | 1981 | 1 |
| PAWD1002 | Carol Los Mansmann | 1985 | 1 |
| PAWD1003 | David Brooks Smith | 2002 | 1 |
| PAWD1004 | Kim R. Gibson | 2025 | 1 |
| PAWD1101 | Barron Patterson McCune | 2008 | 1 |
| PAWD1102 | William Lloyd Standish | 2015 | 1 |
| PAWD1103 | Thomas Michael Hardiman | 2007 | 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
- 12
- Democratic
- 3
| President | Judges |
|---|---|
| Donald J. Trump | 8 |
| George W. Bush | 4 |
| Barack Obama | 2 |
| 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)