| Court Type: | district |
| Court Name: | United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama |
| Abbreviation: | M.D. Ala. |
| Seal: | Seal of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.gif |
| Seal Size: | 150 |
| Map Image Name: | MDAla.png |
| Map Image Width: | 150 |
| Courthouse: | Frank M. Johnson Jr. Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse |
| Location: | Montgomery |
| Courthouse1: | United States Courthouse |
| Location1: | Dothan |
| Courthouse2: | G.W. Andrews Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse |
| Location2: | Opelika |
| Appeals To: | Eleventh Circuit |
| Established: | February 6, 1839 |
| Judges Assigned: | 3 |
| Chief: | Emily C. Marks |
| Us Attorney: | Jonathan S. Ross (Acting) |
| Us Marshal: | Jesse Seroyer Jr. |
The United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama (in case citations, M.D. Ala.) is a United States district court in the Eleventh Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).
The District was established on February 6, 1839.[1]
The United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Alabama represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. the United States attorney is Jonathan S. Ross.[2]
The United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama is one of three federal judicial districts in Alabama. Court for the District is held at Dothan, Montgomery, and Opelika.
Eastern Division comprises the following counties: Chambers, Lee, Macon, Randolph, Russell, and Tallapoosa.
Northern Division comprises the following counties: Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chilton, Coosa, Covington, Crenshaw, Elmore, Lowndes, Montgomery, and Pike.
Southern Division comprises the following counties: Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Henry, and Houston.
Browder v. Gayle (1956) – Court rules that bus segregation in Montgomery was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment. Decision upheld by U.S. Supreme Court six months later.
Gomillion v. Lightfoot (1958) – Court dismissed action, which was later affirmed by the Fifth Circuit. In 1960, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision, finding that electoral districts drawn in Tuskegee, with the purpose of disenfranchising black voters, violated the Fifteenth Amendment.
Lee v. Macon County Board of Education (1963) – Court rules segregation in schooling was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment. Decision upheld by U.S. Supreme Court.[3]
United States v. Alabama (1966) – Court rules poll tax violates the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment. U.S. Supreme Court concurred three weeks later in an unrelated case, Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections.
Glassroth v. Moore (2002) – Court rules that a display of the Ten Commandments, erected by Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in the Alabama Judicial Building violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
| Name | Term Started | Term Ended | Presidents served under | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John A. Minnis | 1870 | 1874 | Ulysses S. Grant | |
| N. S. McAfee | 1874 | 1875 | Ulysses S. Grant | |
| Charles B. Mayer | 1876 | 1880 | Ulysses S. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes | |
| William Hugh Smith | 1880 | 1885 | Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Garfield Chester A. Arthur Grover Cleveland | |
| George H. Craig | 1885 | 1885 | Grover Cleveland | |
| William H. Denson | 1885 | 1889 | Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison | |
| Lewis E. Parsons, Jr. | 1889 | 1893 | Benjamin Harrison Grover Cleveland | |
| Henry D. Clayton, Jr. | 1893 | 1896 | Grover Cleveland | |
| George F. Moore, Jr. | 1896 | 1897 | Grover Cleveland William McKinley | |
| Warren S. Reese, Jr. | 1897 | 1906 | William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt | |
| Erastus J. Parsons[4] | 1906 | 1913 | Theodore Roosevelt William H. Taft Woodrow Wilson | |
| Thomas D. Samford | 1913 | 1924 | Woodrow Wilson Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge | |
| Grady Reynolds | 1924 | 1931 | Calvin Coolidge Herbert Hoover | |
| Arthur B. Chilton | 1931 | 1934 | Herbert Hoover Franklin D. Roosevelt | |
| Thomas D. Samford | 1934 | 1942 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | |
| Edward B. Parker | 1942 | 1953 | Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower | |
| Hartwell Davis | 1953 | 1962 | Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy | |
| Ben Hardeman | 1962 | 1969 | John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon | |
| Leon J. Hopper | 1969 | 1969 | Richard Nixon | |
| Ira De Ment | 1969 | 1977 | Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter | |
| Barry E. Teague | 1977 | 1981 | Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan | |
| John C. Bell | 1981 | 1987 | Ronald Reagan | |
| James E. Wilson | 1987 | 1994 | Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton | |
| Charles R. Pitt[5] | 1994 | 2001 | Bill Clinton George W. Bush | |
| Leura G. Canary[6] [7] | 2001 | 2011 | George W. Bush Barack Obama | |
| George L. Beck Jr.[8] | 2011 | 2017[9] | Barack Obama Donald Trump | |
| A. Clark Morris[10] [11] | 2017 | 2017 | Donald Trump | |
| Louis V. Franklin Sr.[12] | 2017 | 2021 | Donald Trump | |
| Sandra J. Stewart[13] | 2021 | 2023 | Joe Biden | |
| Jonathan S. Ross (Acting)[14] | 2023 | present | Joe Biden |