United States District Court for the District of Alaska

The United States District Court for the District of Alaska is a federal court that appeals to the Ninth Circuit.
The District was established on July 7, 1958, pending Alaska statehood on January 3, 1959.
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 Michael J. Heyman.

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.

Current judges

Succession of seats

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, Nome, and Fairbanks. In 1909, a fourth district and judge was added. From 1909 till 1959, the districts were Juneau, Nome, Valdez and Anchorage, and Fairbanks.

#	District	Seat	Judge	State	Born–died	Active service	Appointed by	Reason for termination
1	—	Sitka and Wrangell	Ward McAllister Jr.	CA	1855–1908	1884–1885	Arthur	dismissal
2	—	Sitka and Wrangell	E. J. Dawne	OR	1844–?	1885	Cleveland	dismissal
3	—	Sitka and Wrangell	Lafayette Dawson	MO	1839–1897	1885–1888	Cleveland	resignation
4	—	Sitka and Wrangell	John H. Keatley	IA	1838–1905	1888–1889	Cleveland	resignation
5	—	Sitka and Wrangell	John S. Bugbee		1840–1896	1889–1892	B. Harrison
6	—	Sitka and Wrangell	Warren Truitt		1849–1935	1892–1897	B. Harrison
7	—	Sitka and Wrangell	Arthur Delaney		1841–1905	1895–1897	Cleveland	dismissal
8	—	Sitka and Wrangell	Charles S. Johnson		1854–1906	1897–1900	McKinley
9	— 1	Sitka and Wrangell	Melville C. Brown		1838–1928	1900 1900–1904	McKinley
10	2	Nome	Arthur H.">Arthur H. Noyes		1853–1915	1900–1902	McKinley
11	3	Fairbanks	James Wickersham		1857–1939	1900–1907	McKinley
12	2	Nome	Alfred S. Moore		1846–1920	1902–1910	T. Roosevelt
13	1	Sitka and Wrangell Juneau	Royal Arch Gunnison		1873–1918	1904–1909	T. Roosevelt
14	3	Fairbanks	Silas H. Reid		1870–1911	1908–1909	T. Roosevelt
15	1	Juneau	Thomas R. Lyons		1867–1941	1909–1913	Taft
16	3	Valdez and Anchorage	Edward E. Cushman		1865–1944	1909–1912	Taft
17	4 3	Fairbanks Valdez and Anchorage	Pete Overfield		1874–1959	1909–1912 1912–1913	Taft
18	2	Nome	Cornelius D. Murane		1867–1951	1910–1913	Taft
19	4	Fairbanks	Frederic E. Fuller		1868–1953	1912–1914	Taft
20	1	Juneau	Robert W. Jennings		1864–1937	1913–1921	Wilson
21	3	Valdez and Anchorage	Frederick M. Brown		1864–1946	1913–1921	Wilson
22	2	Nome	John Randolph Tucker		1854–1926	1913–1917	Wilson
23	4	Fairbanks	Charles E. Bunnell		1878–1956	1915–1921	Wilson
24	2	Nome	William A. Holzheimer		1870–1948	1917–1921	Wilson
25	3	Valdez and Anchorage	Elmer E. Ritchie		1861–1941	1921–1927	Harding
26	2	Nome	Gudbrand J. Lomen		1854–1934	1921–1932	Harding
27	1	Juneau	Thomas M. Reed Jr.		1857–1928	1921–1928	Harding
28	4 3	Fairbanks Valdez and Anchorage	Cecil H. Clegg		1873–1956	1921–1932 1932–1934	Harding
29	3 4	Valdez and Anchorage Fairbanks	E. Coke Hill		1866–1961	1927–1932 1932–1935	Coolidge
30	1	Juneau	Justin Woodward Harding		1888–1976	1929–1934	Coolidge
31	2	Nome	Lester O. Gore		1890–1965	1932–1934	Hoover
32	1	Juneau	George F. Alexander		1882–1948	1933–1947	F. Roosevelt
33	3	Valdez and Anchorage	Simon Hellenthal		1877–1955	1935–1945	F. Roosevelt
34	4	Fairbanks	Harry Emerson Pratt		1884–1957	1935–1954	F. Roosevelt
35	2	Nome	J. H. S. Morison		1864–1952	1935–1944	F. Roosevelt
36	2	Nome	Joseph W. Kehoe		1890–1959	1944–1951	F. Roosevelt
37	3	Valdez and Anchorage	Anthony Dimond		1881–1953	1945–1953	F. Roosevelt
38	1	Juneau	George W.">George W. Folta		1893–1955	1947–1955	Truman	death
39	2	Nome	J. Earl Cooper		1907–1964	1952–1953	Truman
40	3	Valdez and Anchorage	J. L. McCarrey Jr.		1906–1992	1953–1959	Eisenhower	court dissolution
41	2	Nome	Walter Hartman Hodge		1896–1975	1954–1959	Eisenhower	court dissolution
42	4	Fairbanks	Vernon D. Forbes		1905–1990	1954–1959	Eisenhower	court dissolution
43	1	Juneau	Raymond J. Kelly		1894–1979	1955–1959	Eisenhower	court dissolution

U.S. Attorney

Source:
DISTRICT OF ALASKA, SITKA
E. W. Haskett
Mottrone D. Ball
Whitaker M. Grant
John C. Watson
Charles S. Johnson
Lytton Taylor
Burton E. Bennett
Three Judicial Districts Created: June 6, 1900
First District Juneau
Robert A. Frederick
Thomas R. Lyons
John J. Boyce
John Rustgard
James A. Smiser
Arthur G. Shoup
Justin W. Harding
Howard D. Stabler
William A. Holzheimer
Lynn J. Gemmill
Robert L. Jernberg
Robert L. Tollefson
Patrick J. Gilmore, Jr
Theodore E. Munson
Roger G. Connor
C. Donald O’Connor
Second District Nome
Joseph K. Wood
John L. McGinn
Melvin Grigsby
John L. McGinn
Henry M. Hoyt
George B. Grigsby
Bernard S. Rodey
F. M. Saxton
G. B. Mundy
Gudbrand J. Lomen
J. M. Clements
Wm. Frederick Harrison
Julius H. Hart
Leroy M. Sullivan
Hugh O’Neill
Charles J. Clasky
Frank C. Bingham
James A. von der Heydt
Russell R. Hermann
THIRD DISTRICT Eagle, Fairbanks, Valdez, Anchorage
Alfred M. Post
Nathan V. Harlan
James J. Crossley
Corneilus D. Murane
George R. Walker
William N. Spence
William A. Munly
Sherman Duggan
Frank H. Foster
William D. Coppernoll
Warren N. Cuddy
Joseph W. Kehoe
Noel K. Wennblom
Raymond E. Plummer.... 1946–1949
Joseph E. Cooper
Seaborn J. Buckalew, Jr.
William J. Plummer
Fourth District, Fairbanks
James J. Crossley
Rhinehart F. Roth
Guy B. Erwin
Julien A. Hurley
Ralph J. Rivers
Harry O. Arend
Everett W. Hepp
Robert J. McNealy
Theodore F. Stevens
George M. Yeager
ALASKA ADMITTED TO STATEHOOD JANUARY 2, 1959

William T. Plummer
George M. Yeager
Warren C. Colver
Joseph J. Cella, Jr
Richard L. McVeigh
Marvin S. Frankel
A. Lee Preston
Douglas B. Bailey 1969–1971
G. Kent Edwards
James L. Swartz
Alexander O. Bryner
Rene J. Gonzalez
Michael R. Spaan
Mark R. Davis
Wesley William Shea
Joseph W. Bottini
Robert Charles Bundy
Timothy Mark Burgess
Nelson P Cohen
Karen Louise Loeffler
Bryan Schroder
E. Bryan Wilson
S. Lane Tucker
Michael J. Heyman