| April 29, 1802 2 Stat. 156 | The Judiciary Act of 1802 required the chief judge of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia to hold two annual sessions of a district court of the United States in the District of Columbia and declared that the district court would exercise the same jurisdiction and authority vested in other district courts of the United States. |
| March 3, 1863 12 Stat. 762 | Congress established the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia and authorized one chief justiceship and three associate justiceships for the court. The act specified that the court would have the same powers and jurisdiction exercised by the U.S. district courts. It also granted the court the same jurisdiction as U.S. circuit courts, except in appeals and writs of error, which were the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. This act abolished the circuit court, the district court, and the criminal court of the District of Columbia. |
| June 21, 1870 16 Stat. 160 | One additional justiceship authorized. |
| February 25, 1879 20 Stat. 320 | One additional justiceship authorized. |
| February 9, 1893 27 Stat. 434 | Congress established the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which had jurisdiction over appeals from the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, and repealed the circuit court jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia |
| December 20, 1928 45 Stat. 1056 | One additional justiceship authorized. |
| June 19, 1930 46 Stat. 785 | Two additional justiceships authorized. |
| June 25, 1936 49 Stat. 1921 | Congress changed the name of the court to the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia. |
| May 31, 1938 52 Stat. 584 | Three additional justiceships authorized. |
| June 25, 1948 62 Stat. 869, 985 | The act provided that the chief justice of the court would, as of September 1, 1948, be known as the chief judge. This act was amended by the act of September 3, 1954, 68 Stat. 1226, 1245, which provided retroactively that as of September 1, 1948, the chief justice and associate justices of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia were judges in the same sense as judges of other U.S. district courts. |
| August 3, 1949 63 Stat. 493 | Three additional judgeships authorized. |
Authorized Judgeships
1863 | 4 |
1870 | 5 |
1879 | 6 |
1928 | 7 |
1930 | 9 |
1938 | 12 |
1949 | 15 |