United States District Court for the District of Idaho

District of Idaho
	Ninth Circuit
Judgeships
	Posts: 2
	Judges: 1
	Vacancies: 1
Judges
	Chief: David C. Nye
	Active judges: David C. Nye; Senior judges:; Edward Lodge, Lynn Winmill

The United States District Court for the District of Idaho is the United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the state of Idaho (except for the part of the state within Yellowstone National Park, which is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming). It is one of 94 United States district courts. Court is held in Boise, Coeur d'Alene, Moscow, and Pocatello.

When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit based in San Francisco at the James R. Browning Federal Courthouse, but they are initiated at the Pioneer Federal Courthouse in Portland, Oregon.

Vacancies[edit]

See also: Current federal judicial vacancies

There is one current vacancy on the United States District Court for the District of Idaho, out of the court's two judicial positions.

Pending nominations[edit]

There are no pending nominees for this court.

Active judges[edit]

Article III judges[edit]

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
David C. Nye	Donald Trump (R)	July 12, 2017 -	Brigham Young University, 1982	Brigham Young University, 1986

Active Article III judges by appointing political party[edit]

The list below displays the number of active judges by the party of the appointing president. It does not reflect how a judge may rule on specific cases or their own political preferences.

Democrat appointed: 0
Republican appointed: 1

Senior judges[edit]

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
Edward Lodge	George H.W. Bush (R)	July 3, 2015 -	College of Idaho, 1957	University of Idaho College of Law, 1961
Lynn Winmill		August 16, 2021 -	Idaho State University, 1974	Harvard Law School, 1977

Senior judges by appointing political party[edit]

The list below displays the number of senior judges by the party of the appointing president. It does not reflect how a judge may rule on specific cases or their own political preferences.

Democrat appointed: 1
Republican appointed: 1

Magistrate judges[edit]

Federal magistrate judges are federal judges who serve in United States district courts, but they are not appointed by the president and they do not serve life terms. Magistrate judges are assigned duties by the district judges in the district in which they serve. They may preside over most phases of federal proceedings, except for criminal felony trials. The specific duties of a magistrate judge vary from district to district, but the responsibilities always include handling matters that would otherwise be on the dockets of the district judges. Full-time magistrate judges serve for renewable terms of eight years. Some federal district courts have part-time magistrate judges, who serve for renewable terms of four years.^[1]

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
Raymond Patricco	United States District Court for the District of Idaho	June 11, 2021 -	Harvard University	University of Virginia School of Law

Former chief judges[edit]

In order to qualify for the office of chief judge in an Article III circuit or district court, or on the United States Court of International Trade, a judge must be in active service and hold seniority over the court's commissioned judges who are 64 years of age or under, have served one year or more, and have not previously served as chief judge.^[2]

In the event that no judge on the court meets those qualifications, the youngest judge in regular active service aged 65 years or more and who has served as a judge for one year or more shall become chief judge. If no judge meets those qualifications, the judge holding seniority in active service who has not served as chief before shall become the chief judge.^[3]^[4]^[5]

The chief judge serves for a term of seven years until another judge becomes eligible to serve in the position. No judge is permitted to serve as chief judge after reaching the age of 70 years unless no other judge is qualified to serve.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Unlike the chief justice of the United States, a chief judge returns to active service after the expiration of their term and does not create a vacancy on the court by the fact of their promotion.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

On the United States Court of Federal Claims, the chief judge is selected by the President of the United States. The judge must be less than 70 years of age. A chief may serve until they reach age 70 or until another judge is designated by the president as the new chief judge. If the president selects a new chief judge, the former chief judge may continue active service on the court for the remainder of their appointed term.^[6]

Lynn Winmill - (1999 - 2019)
Edward Lodge - (1992 - 1999)
Harold Ryan - (1988 - 1992)
Marion Callister - (1981 - 1988)
Raymond McNichols - (1971 - 1981)
Fredrick Taylor - (1964 - 1971)
Chase Clark - (1954 - 1964)

Former judges[edit]

For more information about the judges of the District of Idaho, see former federal judges of the District of Idaho.

Jurisdiction[edit]

The Counties of Idaho (click for larger map)

The District of Idaho has original jurisdiction over cases filed within its jurisdiction. These cases can include civil and criminal matters that fall under federal law.

Court is held in Boise, Coeur d'Alene, Moscow, and Pocatello.

There are four court divisions, with the two main court divisions covering the following counties:

The Central Division, covering Clearwater, Idaho, Latah, Lewis and Nez Perce counties.

The Eastern Division, covering Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Bonneville, Butte, Caribou, Cassia, Clark, Custer, Franklin, Fremont, Jefferson, Lemhi, Madison, Minidoka, Oneida, Power and Teton counties.

The Northern Division, covering Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Kootenai and Shoshone counties.

The Southern Division, covering Ada, Adams, Blaine, Boise, Camas, Canyon, Elmore, Gem, Gooding, Jerome, Lincoln, Owyhee, Payette, Twin Falls, Valley and Washington counties.

Caseloads[edit]

This section contains court management statistics dating back to 2010. It was last updated in April 2021.

Click [show] below for more information on caseload terms and definitions.

Caseload statistics explanation
Term	Explanation
Cases filed and terminated	The number of civil and criminal lawsuits formally initiated or decided by the court in a calendar year. The chart below reflects the table columns Cases filed and Cases terminated.
Average time from filing to disposition	The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to date of disposition (acquittal, sentencing, dismissal, etc.). The chart below reflects the table columns Median time (Criminal) and Median time (Civil).
Starting case load	The number of cases pending from the previous calendar year.
Cases filed	The number of civil and criminal lawsuits formally initiated in a calendar year.
Cases terminated	The total number of civil and criminal lawsuits decided by the court in a calendar year.
Remaining cases	The number of civil and criminal cases pending at the end of a given year.
Median time (Criminal)	The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to the date of disposition. In criminal cases, the date of disposition occurs on the day of sentencing or acquittal/dismissal.
Median time (Civil)	The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to the date of disposition.
Three-year civil cases	The number and percent of civil cases that were filed more than three years before the end of the given calendar year.
Vacant posts	The number of months during the year an authorized judgeship was vacant.
Trial/Post	The number of trials completed divided by the number of authorized judgeships on the court. Trials include evidentiary trials, hearings on temporary restraining orders, and preliminary injunctions.
Source: United States Courts, "Explanation of the Judicial Caseload Profiles for United States District Courts," accessed September 25, 2018

United States District Court for the District of Idaho caseload stats, 2010-2019
Year	Cases Filed	Cases Terminated	Cases Pending	Number of Judgeships	Vacant Judgeship Months	Average Total Filings per Judgeship	Trials Completed per Judgeship	Median time from filing to disposition, criminal	Median time from filing to disposition, civil	Three-year civil cases (#)	Three-year civil cases (%)
2010	1,115	1,023	1,141	2	0	558	20	8	10	49	6
2011	972	930	1,045	2	0	486	21	9	11	53	7
2012	1,108	1,117	1,121	2	0	554	20	8	11	41	5
2013	1,001	1,068	1,040	2	0	501	18	9	11	51	8
2014	933	918	1,039	2	0	467	12	9	12	56	8
2015	1,007	992	1,045	2	6	504	19	8	11	64	9
2016	1,029	941	1,120	2	12	515	20	8	11	72	9
2017	1,036	1,085	1,065	2	6	518	21	8	15	67	10
2018	1,139	1,053	1,141	2	0	570	15	8	10	66	9
2019	1,076	1,102	1,110	2	0	538	16	9	10	68	10
Average	1,042	1,023	1,087	2	2	521	18	8	11	59	8

History[edit]

The District of Idaho was established by Congress on January 29, 1861, with one post to cover the entire state. Over time five additional judicial posts were added for a total of six current posts.^[7]

Judicial posts[edit]

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the District of Idaho:^[7]

Year	Statute	Total Seats
July 3, 1890	26 Stat. 215	1
February 10, 1954	68 Stat. 8	2

Noteworthy events[edit]

Federal Judicial Conference recommendation (2019)[edit]

In March 2019, the Federal Judicial Conference (FJC) recommended that one judgeship be added to the district.^[8] Based on FJC data, the district handled 550 weighted filings per judgeship from September 2017 to September 2018. Weighted filings are a specific metric used by the federal judiciary that accounts for the different amounts of time judges require to resolve types of civil and criminal cases. The national average in that period for weighted filings per judgeship was 513.^[9]

The FJC is the policy-making body for the United States federal courts system. It was first organized as the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges in 1922.^[10] The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States serves as chair of the conference. The members of the conference are the chief judge of each judicial circuit, the Chief Judge of the Court of International Trade, and a district judge from each regional judicial circuit.^[11]

Federal courthouse[edit]

Four separate courthouses serve the District of Idaho.

About United States District Courts[edit]

The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal courts. There are 94 such courts. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of both law and equity.

There is a United States bankruptcy court and a number of bankruptcy judges associated with each United States district court. Each federal judicial district has at least one courthouse, and most districts have more than one.

There is at least one judicial district for each state, and one each for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. District courts in three insular areas—the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands—exercise the same jurisdiction as U.S. district courts. Despite their name, these courts are technically not District Courts of the United States. Judges on these territorial courts do not enjoy the protections of Article III of the Constitution, and serve terms of 10 years rather than for life.

There are 677 U.S. District Court judgeships.^[12]^[13]

The number of federal district judge positions is set by the U.S. Congress in Title 28 of the U.S. Code, Section 133, which authorizes a set number of judge positions, or judgeships, making changes and adjustments in these numbers from time to time.

In order to relieve the pressure of trying the hundreds of thousands of cases brought before the federal district courts each year, many trials are tried by juries, along with a presiding judge.^[14]

Appointments by president[edit]

The chart below shows the number of district court judges confirmed by the U.S. Senate through September 1 of the second year of each president's term in office. At this point in the term, President Clinton had the most district court appointments with 70.

Judges by district[edit]

See also: Judicial vacancies in federal courts

The table below displays the number of judges in each district and indicates how many were appointed by presidents from each major political party. It also includes the number of vacancies in a district and how many pending nominations for that district are before the United States Senate. The table can be sorted by clicking the column headers above the line, and you can navigate through the pages by clicking the arrows at the top of the table. It is updated every Monday.

Judicial selection[edit]

The district courts are served by Article III federal judges who are appointed for life during "good behavior." They are usually first recommended by senators (or members of the House, occasionally). The President of the United States makes the appointments, which must then be confirmed by the U.S. Senate in accordance with Article III of the United States Constitution.^[13]

Step	A Candidacy Proceeds	A Candidacy Halts
1. Recommendation made by Congress Member to the President	President Nominates to Senate Judiciary Committee	President Declines Nomination
2. Senate Judiciary Committee interviews Candidate	Sends candidate to Senate for confirmation	Returns candidate to President, who may re-nominate to Committee
3. Senate votes on candidate confirmation	Candidate becomes federal judge	Candidate does not receive judgeship

Magistrate judges[edit]

The district courts are also served by magistrate judges. Congress created the judicial office of federal magistrate in 1968. In 1990, the position title was changed to magistrate judge. The chief judge of each district appoints one or more magistrate judges, who discharge many of the ancillary duties of district judges so judges can handle more trials. There are both full-time and part-time magistrate judge positions, and these positions are assigned to the district courts according to caseload criteria (subject to funding by Congress). A full-time magistrate judge serves a term of eight years; a part-time magistrate judge's term of office is four years.^[15]