Information About the Oklahoma District Court

Oklahoma District Court is one of 94 United States district courts, the general courts of trial in the U.S. federal system of courts.

Jurisdiction

Both criminal as well as civil cases need to be filed in a federal district court that is designated as the court of equity, law and admiralty. There is also a bankruptcy court that is connected with each district court in the country.

Certain other federal courts have countrywide jurisdiction over specific types of cases, such as the U.S. Court of International Trade, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and the United States Tax Court, but federal courts have concurrent jurisdiction over many of them.

Like all U.S. states, Oklahoma has both state and federal judicial systems. The state court system answers to its highest body, the State Supreme Court. The federal courts are legislated by the U.S. Congress to operate under federal law; their highest arbiter is the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Attorney's Offices for the respective federal districts represent the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the district courts.

The federal courts in the State of Oklahoma are the following:

•    U.S. District Court for Eastern District
•    U.S. District Court for Northern District
•    U.S. District Court for Western District

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma

The court for the Eastern District in the state has 2 appointed judges and jurisdiction over the counties of Adair, Bryan, Atoka, Carter, Choctaw, Cherokee, Coal, Hughes, Haskell, Johnston, Le Flore, Latimer, Marshall, Love, McCurtain, McIntosh, Muskogee, Murray, Okmulgee, Okfuskee, Pontotoc, Pittsburg, Pushmataha, Sequoyah, Seminole and Wagoner.

The court is based in Muskogee, and housed in the Ed Edmondson Courthouse Building in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The official website of the District Court for the Eastern District is http://www.oked.uscourts.gov.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma

There are 4 judges here and jurisdiction is over the counties of Craig, Creek, Mayes, Delaware, Osage, Nowata, Ottawa, Pawnee, Tulsa, Rogers and Washington. This court is based at Tulsa.

Appeals from the Northern District of the state go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (but this is not the case when claims are made against the federal government under the Tucker Act and also for patent claims – these cases need to be appealed to a Federal Circuit). The official website of the District Court for the Northern District is http://www.oknd.uscourts.gov.

Oklahoma's Western District Court

The District Court for the Western District has 7 appointed judges and has jurisdiction over the counties of Alfalfa, Beaver, Blaine, Beckham, Canadian, Caddo, Cimarron, Comanche, Cleveland, Cotton, Dewey, Custer, Ellis, Garvin, Garfield, Grant, Grady, Harmon, Greer, Jackson, Harper, Kay, Jefferson, Kiowa, Kingfisher, Logan, Lincoln, Major, McClain, Noble, Oklahoma, Pottawatomie, Payne, Roger Mills, Texas, Stephens, Washita, Tillman, Woods and Woodward.

Its office is at 200 NW 4th Street, Room 1210, Oklahoma City OK 73102, Main Phone: (405) 609-5000. Fax Number: (405) 609-5099. ECF Helpdesk: (405) 609-5555 or (888) 609-OKWD (6593). The official website of the District Court for the Western District is http://www.okwd.uscourts.gov.

Appeals

Not happy with the decision of an Oklahoma Federal District Court? You can file an appeal against the decision and it would be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Tenth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act).

Failing that, you may ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Court of Appeal's decision. However, the Supreme Court usually has final discretion to decide whether or not it will do so.