United States District Court for the District of Alaska explained

Court Type:	district
Court Name:	United States District Court for the District of Alaska
Abbreviation:	D. Alaska
Seal:	Seal of the United States District Court for the District of Alaska (2020).svg
Seal Size:	150
Map Image Name:	Alaska Locator Map.PNG
Map Image Width:	150
Location:	Anchorage
Location1:	Fairbanks
Courthouse2:	Hurff Ackerman Saunders Federal Building and Robert Boochever U.S. Courthouse
Location2:	Juneau
Appeals To:	Ninth Circuit
Established:	January 3, 1959
Judges Assigned:	3
Chief:	Sharon L. Gleason
Us Attorney:	S. Lane Tucker
Us Marshal:	Robert Heun

The United States District Court for the District of Alaska (in case citations, D. Alaska) is a federal court that appeals to the Ninth 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 July 7, 1958, pending Alaska statehood on January 3, 1959.^[1]

The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Alaska represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. the United States attorney is S. Lane Tucker.^[2]

Organization of the court

The United States District Court for the District of Alaska is the sole federal judicial district in Alaska. Court for the district is held at Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau. In 2021, the court discontinued the use of courthouses in Ketchikan and Nome.^[3]

Current judges

Vacancies and pending nominations

Seat	Prior judge's duty station	Seat last held by	Vacancy reason	Date of vacancy	Nominee	Date of nomination
2	Anchorage	Timothy M. Burgess	Senior status	December 31, 2021
1	Anchorage	Joshua Kindred	Resignation	July 8, 2024

Territorial District Court

From 1884 through 1959, the highest court in Alaska was a United States territorial court. In 1900, the court was enlarged from one to three judges, with each judge having a district. From 1900 till 1909, the districts were Juneau (First), Nome (Second), and Fairbanks (Third). In 1909, a fourth district and judge was added. From 1909 till 1959, the districts were Juneau (First), Nome (Second), Valdez and Anchorage (Third), and Fairbanks (Fourth).^[4]

	District	Seat	Judge	State	Appointed by	Reason for termination
style=text-align:right	1	style=text-align:right	—	Sitka and Wrangell	1855–1908	1884–1885	dismissal
style=text-align:right	2	style=text-align:right	—	Sitka and Wrangell	1844–?	1885	dismissal
style=text-align:right	3	style=text-align:right	—	Sitka and Wrangell	1839–1897	1885–1888	resignation
style=text-align:right	4	style=text-align:right	—	Sitka and Wrangell	1838–1905	1888–1889	resignation
style=text-align:right	5	style=text-align:right	—	Sitka and Wrangell	1840–1896	1889–1892
style=text-align:right	6	style=text-align:right	—	Sitka and Wrangell	1855–1935	1892–1897
style=text-align:right	7	style=text-align:right	—	Sitka and Wrangell	1841–1905	1895–1897	dismissal
style=text-align:right	8	style=text-align:right	—	Sitka and Wrangell	1854–1906	1897–1900
style=text-align:right	9	style=text-align:right	— 1	Sitka and Wrangell	1838–1928	1900 1900–1904
style=text-align:right	10	style=text-align:right	2	Nome	1853–1915	1900–1902
style=text-align:right	11	style=text-align:right	3	Fairbanks	1857–1939	1900–1907
style=text-align:right	12	style=text-align:right	2	Nome	1846–1920	1902–1910
style=text-align:right	13	style=text-align:right	1	Sitka and Wrangell (to 1906) Juneau (from 1906)	1873–1918	1904–1909
style=text-align:right	14	style=text-align:right	3	Fairbanks	1870–1911	1908–1909
style=text-align:right	15	style=text-align:right	1	Juneau	1867–1941	1909–1913
style=text-align:right	16	style=text-align:right	3	Valdez and Anchorage	1865–1944	1909–1912
style=text-align:right	17	style=text-align:right	4 3	Fairbanks Valdez and Anchorage	1874–1959	1909–1912 1912–1913
style=text-align:right	18	style=text-align:right	2	Nome	1867–1951	1910–1913
style=text-align:right	19	style=text-align:right	4	Fairbanks	1868–1953	1912–1914
style=text-align:right	20	style=text-align:right	1	Juneau	1864–1937	1913–1921
style=text-align:right	21	style=text-align:right	3	Valdez and Anchorage	1864–1946	1913–1921
style=text-align:right	22	style=text-align:right	2	Nome	1854–1926	1913–1917
style=text-align:right	23	style=text-align:right	4	Fairbanks	1878–1956	1915–1921
style=text-align:right	24	style=text-align:right	2	Nome	1870–1948	1917–1921
style=text-align:right	25	style=text-align:right	3	Valdez and Anchorage	1861–1941	1921–1927
style=text-align:right	26	style=text-align:right	2	Nome	1854–1934	1921–1932
style=text-align:right	27	style=text-align:right	1	Juneau	1857–1928	1921–1928
style=text-align:right	28	style=text-align:right	4 3	Fairbanks Valdez and Anchorage	1873–1956	1921–1932 1932–1934
style=text-align:right	29	style=text-align:right	3 4	Valdez and Anchorage Fairbanks	1866–1961	1927–1932 1932–1935
style=text-align:right	30	style=text-align:right	1	Juneau	1888–1976	1929–1934
style=text-align:right	31	style=text-align:right	2	Nome	1890–1965	1932–1934
style=text-align:right	32	style=text-align:right	1	Juneau	1882–1948	1933–1947
style=text-align:right	33	style=text-align:right	3	Valdez and Anchorage	1877–1955	1935–1945
style=text-align:right	34	style=text-align:right	4	Fairbanks	1884–1957	1935–1954
style=text-align:right	35	style=text-align:right	2	Nome	1864–1952	1935–1944
style=text-align:right	36	style=text-align:right	2	Nome	1890–1959	1944–1951
style=text-align:right	37	style=text-align:right	3	Valdez and Anchorage	1881–1953	1945–1953
style=text-align:right	38	style=text-align:right	1	Juneau	1893–1955	1947–1955	death
style=text-align:right	39	style=text-align:right	2	Nome	1907–1964	1952–1953
style=text-align:right	40	style=text-align:right	3	Valdez and Anchorage	1906–1992	1953–1959	court dissolution
style=text-align:right	41	style=text-align:right	2	Nome	1896–1975	1954–1959	court dissolution
style=text-align:right	42	style=text-align:right	4	Fairbanks	1905–1990	1954–1959	court dissolution
style=text-align:right	43	style=text-align:right	1	Juneau	1894–1979	1955–1959	court dissolution

U.S. Attorney^[5]

DISTRICT OF ALASKA, SITKA (1884-1898)E. W. Haskett (1884-1885) Mottrone D. Ball (1885-1887) Whitaker M. Grant (1887-1889) John C. Watson (1889) Charles S. Johnson (1889-1894) Lytton Taylor (1894-1895)Burton E. Bennett (1895-1898)

Three Judicial Districts Created: June 6, 1900 First District Juneau Robert A. Frederick (1898-1902) Thomas R. Lyons (1902-1903) John J. Boyce (1903-1910) John Rustgard (1910-1914 John J. Reagan (1914-1915) James A. Smiser (1915-1921) Arthur G. Shoup (1921-1927) Justin W. Harding (1927-1929) Howard D. Stabler (1929-1933)William A. Holzheimer (1933-1944) Lynn J. Gemmill (1944) Robert L. Jernberg (1944-1945) Robert L. Tollefson (1945-1946) Patrick J. Gilmore, Jr (1946-1954) Theodore E. Munson (1954-1956) Roger G. Connor (1956) C. Donald O’Connor (1956)

Second District Nome Joseph K. Wood (1900-1901) John L. McGinn (1901-1902) Melvin Grigsby (1902-1903) John L. McGinn (1903-1904) Henry M. Hoyt (1904-1908) George B. Grigsby (1908-1910) Bernard S. Rodey (1910-1913) F. M. Saxton (1913-1917) G. B. Mundy (1917-1918) Gudbrand J. Lomen (1918-1919) J. M. Clements (1919-1921) Wm. Frederick Harrison (1921-1929) Julius H. Hart (1929-1931) Leroy M. Sullivan (1931-1933)Hugh O’Neill (1933-1939) Charles J. Clasky (1939-1944) Frank C. Bingham (1944-1951) James A. von der Heydt (1951-1953)Russell B. Hermann (1953) THIRD DISTRICT Eagle, Fairbanks, Valdez, Anchorage Alfred M. Post (1900-1901) Nathan V. Harlan (1901-1908) James J. Crossley (1908-1909) Corneilus D. Murane (1909-1910) George R. Walker (1910-1914) William N. Spence (1914-1917) William A. Munly (1917-1921) Sherman Duggan (1921-1925) Frank H. Foster (1925-1926)William D. Coppernoll (1926-1928) Warren N. Cuddy^[6] (1928-1933) Joseph W. Kehoe (1933-1942) Noel K. Wennblom (1942-1946) Raymond E. Plummer .... 1946-1949 Joseph E. Cooper (1949-1952) Seaborn J. Buckalew, Jr. (1952-1953) William J. Plummer (1953-1960)

Fourth District, Fairbanks James J. Crossley (1909-1914) Rhinehart F. Roth (1914-1921) Guy B. Erwin (1921-1924) Julien A. Hurley (1924-1933) Ralph J. Rivers (1933-1944) Harry O. Arend (1944-1949) Everett W. Hepp (1950-1952) Robert J. McNealy (1952-1953) Theodore F. Stevens (1954-1956) George M. Yeager (1956-1960)

ALASKA ADMITTED TO STATEHOOD JANUARY 2, 1959

William T. Plummer (1960)
George M. Yeager (1960-1961)
Warren C. Colver (1961-1964)
Joseph J. Cella, Jr (1964)
Richard L. McVeigh (1964-1968)
Marvin S. Frankel (1968-1969)
A. Lee Preston (1969)
Douglas B. Bailey 1969-1971
G. Kent Edwards (1971-1977)
James L. Swartz (1977)
Alexander O. Bryner (1977-1980)
Rene J. Gonzalez (1980-1981)
Michael R. Spaan (1981-1989)
Mark R. Davis (1989-1990)^[7]
Wesley William Shea (1990-1993)
Joseph W. Bottini (1993)
Robert Charles Bundy (1994-?)
Timothy Mark Burgess (2001-2005)
Nelson P Cohen (2006-2009)^[8]
Karen Louise Loeffler (2009-2017)
Bryan Schroder (2017-2021)
E. Bryan Wilson (2021-2022)
S. Lane Tucker (2022-present)

External links

Notes and References

Web site: U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska: Legislative History. Federal Judicial Center. 2021-11-04.
Web site: Meet the U.S. Attorney . www.justice.gov . 8 May 2022 . en . 25 April 2022.
Web site: Court Locations. United States District Court for the District of Alaska. March 12, 2024.
Web site: A History of the Alaska Federal District Court System 1884-1959, and the Creation of the State Court System. Claus-M.. Naske. July 1985. 2021-12-15.
Web site: 1989 . Bicentennial Celebration of United States Attorneys, 1789–1989 . April 3, 2024 . Department of Justice.
Web site: 2015-01-29 . District of Alaska About . 2024-04-04 . www.justice.gov . en.
Web site: The Political Graveyard: U.S. District Attorneys in Alaska . 2024-04-03 . politicalgraveyard.com.
Web site: Chottiner . Lee . April 13, 2009 . Pittsburgh man returns home after stint as Alaska's top prosecutor . April 3, 2024 . Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.