The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in

case citation Case citation is a system used by legal professionals to identify past court case decisions, either in series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a neutral style that identifies a decision regardless of where it is reported. Case c ...

s, N.D. Cal.) is the federal

United States district court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district. Each district cov ...

whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

: Alameda, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Humboldt,

Lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Benito,

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma. The court hears cases in its courtrooms in Eureka,

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, and San Jose. It is headquartered in San Francisco. Cases from the Northern District of California are appealed to the

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts for the following federal judicial districts: * Distric ...

. Because it covers San Francisco and

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

, the Northern District of California has become the presumptive destination for major federal lawsuits (such as large class actions and multi-district litigation) involving "

Big Tech Big Tech, also referred to as the Tech Giants or Tech Titans, is a collective term for the largest and most influential technology companies in the world. The label draws a parallel to similar classifications in other industries, such as "Big Oi ...

" defendants. These cases usually involve

patent law 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 ...

and

intellectual property law Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, ...

(such as

copyright law A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, e ...

and

DMCA The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or ...

issues as well as

trademark law A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a product or service from a particular source and distinguishes it from ot ...

and trade secret law) - especially in the

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping level ...

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

and

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

industries and other high technology areas,

antitrust law Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...

, securities law, and technology law in general (''e.g.'',

cybersecurity Computer security (also cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology (IT) security) is a subdiscipline within the field of information security. It consists of the protection of computer software, systems and networks from thr ...

, Internet law,

computer law Information technology law (IT law), also known as information, communication and technology law (ICT law) or cyberlaw, concerns the juridical regulation of information technology, its possibilities and the consequences of its use, including comp ...

and cases involving

History

California was admitted as a state on September 9, 1850, and was initially divided into two districts, the Northern and the Southern, by Act of Congress approved September 28, 1850, 9 Stat. 521.U.S. District Courts of California, Legislative history
, '' Federal Judicial Center''. The boundary line was at the 37th parallel of North Latitude. The creating act provided that: :In addition to the ordinary jurisdiction and powers of a District Court of the United States, with which the Southern District Court of New York has been invested, the said Courts be and hereby are invested respectively within the limits of its district with the exercise of concurrent jurisdiction and power in all civil cases now exercised by the Circuit Courts of the United States; and that in all cases where said Courts shall exercise such jurisdiction, appeals may be taken from the judgments, orders or decrees of said Courts to the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

. The Act of August 31, 1852 made the Judge of the Northern District be Judge of the Southern District as well until otherwise provided, by 10 Stat. 76, 84, effectively creating a single District in all but name until an Act of January 18, 1854 provided for the appointment of a Judge for the Southern District. The Southern District of California was abolished and the State made to constitute a single district – the United States District Court for the District of California – by Act of Congress approved July 27, 1866, 14 Stat. 300. Twenty years later, on August 5, 1886, Congress re-created the Southern District of California by 24 Stat. 308. Erskine M. Ross was appointed Judge of the new district and served until his promotion to the Circuit Judgeship, when he was succeeded by

Olin Wellborn Olin Wellborn (June 18, 1843 – December 6, 1921) was a United States representative from Texas and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. Education and career Born on June ...

. On March 18, 1966, the Eastern and Central Districts were created from portions of the Northern and Southern Districts by 80 Stat. 75.

Current judges

Former judges

Chief judges

Succession of seats

United States attorney

The United States Attorney for the Northern District of California represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. the United States attorney is Patrick D Robbins. * Calhoun Benham 1850-53 * Samuel Williams Inge 1853-56 * William Blanding 1856-57 * Peter della Torre 1857-60 * Calhoun Benham 1860-61 * William H. Sharp 1861-64 * Delos Lake 1864-69 * Frank M. Pixley 1869 * Lorenzo D. Latimer 1869-73 * Walter Van Dyke 1873-76 * John M. Coghlan 1876-78 * Phillip Teare 1878-83 * Samuel G. Hilborn 1883-86 * John T. Carey 1886-90 * Charles A. Garter 1890-94 * Samuel Knight 1894-95 * Henry S. Foote 1895-99 * Frank L. Coombs 1899-1901 * Marshall B. Woodworth 1901-05 * Robert T. Devlin 1905-12 * John L. McNab 1912-13 * B. L. McKinley 1913 * John W. Preston 1913-18 * Mrs. A. A. Adams 1918-20 * Frank M. Silva 1920-21 * J. T. Williams 1921-24 * Sterling Carr 1924-25 * George J. Hatfield 1925-33 * I. M. Peckham 1933 * Harry H. McPike 1933-37 * Frank J. Hennessy 1937-51 * Chauncey F. Tramutolo 1951 * Lloyd H. Burke 1953-58 * Robert H. Schnacke 1958-59 * Lynn J. Gillard 1959-60 * Laurence E. Dayton 1960-61 * Cecil F. Poole 1961-69 * James L. Browning, Jr. 1969-77 * G. William Hunter 1977-81 * Rodney H. Hamblen 1981 * Joseph P. Russoniello 1981-90 * William T. McGivern 1990-92 * John A. Mendez 1992-93 * Michael J. Yamaguchi 1993-98 * Robert S. Mueller 1998-2001 * Kevin V. Ryan 2002-2007 * Scott Schools 2007-2008 * Joseph P. Russoniello 2008-2010 * Melinda Haag 2010-2016 * David L. Anderson 2019-2021 * Stephanie Hinds (acting) 2021–2023 * Ismail Ramsey 2023-2025 * Patrick D Robbins 2025-present

References

External links

United States District Court for the Northern District of California Official Mainmisconduct
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websites
United States Attorney for the Northern District of California Official Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:United States District Court for the Northern District of California California, Northern District San Francisco San Jose, California Oakland, California 1850 establishments in California 1866 disestablishments in California 1886 establishments in California Courts and tribunals established in 1850 Courts and tribunals disestablished in 1866 Courts and tribunals established in 1886