United States District Court for the Eastern District of California


The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California is a federal court in the Ninth Circuit.
The District was created on March 18, 1966, with the division of the Northern and Southern districts, leading to the creation of the Central and Eastern districts.
The United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. Since December 29, 2017, the current United States Attorney is McGregor W. Scott.

Organization of the court

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California is one of four federal judicial districts in California. Court for the District is held at the Robert E. Coyle U.S. Courthouse in Fresno and Robert T. Matsui U.S. Courthouse in Sacramento.
Fresno Division comprises the following counties: Calaveras, Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Stanislaus, Tulare, and Tuolumne.
Sacramento Division comprises the following counties: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo, and Yuba.
Bakersfield Office hears misdemeanor and petty criminal offenses on federal lands and National Parks in Inyo and Kern counties. Court is held at Bakersfield, Edwards Air Force Base, and Ridgecrest.
Redding Office hears misdemeanor and petty criminal offenses on federal lands and National Parks in Northern California. Court is held at Sierra Army Depot, Redding, and Susanville.
Yosemite Office hears misdemeanor and petty criminal offenses in Yosemite National Park. National parks are under federal jurisdiction. The perennially large crowds of tourists at Yosemite create a unique situation justifying the presence of a courthouse inside the park itself.

Current judges


Vacancies and pending nominations

SeatSeat last held byVacancy reasonDate of vacancyNomineeDate of nomination
3Morrison C. England Jr.Senior statusDecember 17, 2019Dirk B. PaloutzianMay 21, 2020
4Lawrence Joseph O'NeillSenior statusFebruary 2, 2020James P. ArguellesJune 18, 2020

Former judges

Chief judges

Succession of seats

Request for expansion

The six sitting judges and three senior judges have submitted a draft letter to the members of the Senate and House of Representatives from the Eastern District in which they argue that population growth in the District has necessitated an increase in the number of District Judges.