Washington District Court Information

Within the federal judicial system, there are 94 judicial districts that are spread over the 50 states and territories. They are the general courts of trial in the federal court process. Both civil as well as cases of criminal nature are filed in the court of the district that is the court of equity, law and admiralty.

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court is also associated with each U.S. District Court. Federal courts with countrywide jurisdiction try specific types of cases, but federal courts share jurisdiction with many of them. There is at least one court within each district and in many there are more.

There are two districts within the State of Washington, and a Washington District Court could belong to either of two U.S. judicial districts: the Eastern or the Western. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington has jurisdiction over 19 counties and they are: Adams, Benton, Asotin, Chelan, Columbia, Ferry, Douglas, Garfield, Franklin, Grant, Kittitas, Lincoln, Klickitat, Okanogan, Oreille, Pend Spokane, Walla Walla, Stevens, Yakima and Whitman. This court was established on March 2nd, 1905.

Eastern District

According to the census of 2000, there are 1.3 million residents in the Eastern District of the state, and this comprises 22% of the population of Washington. There are 4 judges in the district court of the Eastern District who are assigned at:

•    Thomas S. Foley U.S. Courthouse, 920 West Riverside Avenue, Spokane, WA 99201, Phone: (509) 458-3400.
•    William O. Douglas Courthouse, 25 South Third Street, Yakima, WA 98907, Phone: (509) 573-6600.
•    U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building, 825 Jadwin Avenue, Richland, WA 99352, Phone: (509) 376-7262.

The cases heard in these courts can be appealed to the appellate court of the U.S. for the 9th Circuit. The exceptions to this rule are patent claims and those against the federal government, according to the Tucker Act. Such cases need to be appealed to Federal Circuit Court. The Eastern District's Attorney's Office represents the U.S. in criminal and civil litigation.

The website for the District Court for the Eastern District is http://www.waed.uscourts.gov.

Western District

The Western District Court is the federal district court with jurisdiction over a majority of the state’s populated counties: Clallam, Cowlitz, Clark, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Island, King, Kitsap, Mason, Lewis, Pacific, San Juan, Pierce, Skagit, Snohomish, Skamania, Thurston, Whatcom and Wahkiakum. This court was also established on March 2nd, 1905.

As of the 2000 census, 4.6 million people reside in the Western District – 78% of the state's population. The Western District has 8 judges assigned to preside over cases at:

•   U.S. Courthouse, 700 Stewart Street, Suite 2310, Seattle, WA  98101
•   Union Station Courthouse, 1717 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, WA  98402

 The United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of the state represents the U.S. in criminal and civil litigations in the court.

The website for the District Court for the Western District is http://www.wawd.uscourts.gov.

The procedure for Electronic Case Filing, or ECF, has been updated. You will find the new ECF Filing Process at this Web address: http://www.wawd.uscourts.gov/documents/ECFFinalAmendedProceduresJune2009_001.pdf