History of the Federal Judiciary

U.S. District Courts for the Districts of Texas

Legislative History

December 29, 1845 9 Stat. 1	Congress organized Texas as one judicial district and authorized one judgeship for the district court. The district court in Texas, not being assigned to a judicial circuit, was granted the same jurisdiction as U.S. circuit courts, except in appeals and writs of error, which were the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
February 21, 1857 11 Stat. 164	Texas divided into two judicial districts, the Eastern and the Western, with one judgeship authorized for the court in each district.
July 15, 1862 12 Stat. 576	The act repealed the circuit court jurisdiction of the district courts in Texas and established a U.S. circuit court for the district, which was assigned to Sixth Circuit.
July 23, 1866 14 Stat. 209	Texas assigned to the Fifth Circuit
February 24, 1879 20 Stat. 318	Northern District established and one judgeship authorized for the district court.
February 9, 1898 30 Stat. 240	Temporary judgeship authorized for the Northern District; statute provided that any vacancy in the existing judgeship would not be filled.
March 11, 1902 32 Stat. 64	Southern District established and one judgeship authorized for the district court.
February 26, 1917 39 Stat. 938	One additional judgeship authorized for the Western District.
February 26, 1919 40 Stat. 1183	One additional judgeship authorized for the Northern District.
September 14, 1922 42 Stat. 837	One temporary judgeship authorized for the Northern District.
August 19, 1935 49 Stat. 659	Temporary judgeship authorized in 1922 for the Northern District was made permanent.
May 31, 1938 52 Stat. 584	One additional judgeship authorized for the Southern District.
August 3, 1949 63 Stat. 493	One permanent and one temporary judgeship authorized for the Southern District.
February 10, 1954 68 Stat. 8	One additional judgeship authorized for the Eastern District. Temporary judgeship authorized for the Southern District in 1949 made permanent.
May 19, 1961 75 Stat. 80	Two additional judgeships authorized for the Northern District, one for the Southern District, and one for the Western District.
March 18, 1966 80 Stat. 75	Two additional judgeships authorized for the Southern District and one for the Western District.
June 2, 1970 84 Stat. 294	One additional judgeship authorized for each of the four districts.
October 20, 1978 92 Stat. 1629	Five additional judgeships authorized for the Southern District, three for the Northern District, one for the Eastern District, and one for the Western District.
July 10, 1984 98 Stat. 333	One additional judgeship authorized for the Northern District, two for the Eastern District, and one for the Western District.
December 1, 1990 104 Stat. 5089	Two additional judgeships authorized for the Northern District, one for the Eastern District, five for the Southern District, and three for the Western District.
December 21, 2000 114 Stat. 2762	One additional judgeship authorized for the Southern District and one for the Western District.
November 2, 2002 116 Stat. 1758	Two additional judgeships authorized for the Western District and one temporary judgeship authorized for the Eastern District.

Authorized Judgeships

	Texas District	Eastern District	Western District	Northern District	Southern District	Total Judgeships
1845	1					1
1857		1	1			2
1879		1	1	1		3
1898		1	1	2		4
1898		1	1	1		3
1902		1	1	1	1	4
1917		1	2	1	1	5
1919		1	2	2	1	6
1922		1	2	3	1	7
1938		1	2	3	2	8
1949		1	2	3	4	10
1954		2	2	3	4	11
1961		2	3	5	5	15
1966		2	4	5	7	18
1970		3	5	6	8	22
1978		4	6	9	13	32
1984		6	7	10	13	36
1990		7	10	12	18	47
2000		7	11	12	19	49
2002		8	13	12	19	52