The U.S. District Court for the District of Maine (in

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s, D. Me.) is the U.S. district court for the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

. The District of Maine was one of the original thirteen district courts established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, even though Maine was not a separate state from

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until 1820. The court is headquartered at the Edward T. Gignoux United States Courthouse in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

and has a second courthouse in Bangor, Maine. The U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine represents the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in criminal and civil litigation before the court. the U.S. Attorney is Darcie N. McElwee. Appeals from the District of Maine are heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (except for

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

claims and claims against the U.S. government under the

Tucker Act The Tucker Act (March 3, 1887, ch. 359, , ) is a federal statute of the United States by which the United States government has waived its sovereign immunity with respect to certain lawsuits. The Tucker Act may be divided into the "Big" Tucker A ...

, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).

History

The District of Maine was one of the thirteen original districts created on September 24, 1789, by the Judiciary Act of 1789, .U.S. District Court of Maine, Legislative history
'' Federal Judicial Center'' (accessed July 5, 2009). At the time, Maine was part of the state of Massachusetts. As with other jurisdictions of the time, the District of Maine was originally assigned a single judgeship. Not being assigned to a judicial circuit, it was granted the same jurisdiction as the

United States circuit court The United States circuit courts were the original intermediate level courts of the United States federal court system. They were established by the Judiciary Act of 1789. They had trial court jurisdiction over civil suits of diversity jurisdic ...

, except in appeals and writs of error, which were the jurisdiction of the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts. The circuit court jurisdiction of the District of Maine was repealed on February 13, 1801 by 2 Stat. 89, and restored on March 8, 1802 by . On March 30, 1820, shortly after Maine entered the Union, the District of Maine was assigned to the First Circuit and its internal circuit court jurisdiction was again repealed by . A second judgeship was authorized on October 20, 1978, by, , and a third was authorized on December 1, 1990, by .

Current judges

Former judges

Succession of seats

References

External links

United States District Court for the District of Maine
{{DEFAULTSORT:United States District Court for the District of Maine