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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

Eastern District of Texas

Honorable Rodney Gilstrap, Chief Judge
David A. O'Toole, Clerk of Court

History of Judges Succession

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Chief Judges of the Eastern District of Texas

  • Rodney Gilstrap 2018 - Present
  • Ron Clark 2015 - 2018
  • Leonard Davis 2012-2015
  • David Folsom 2009-2012
  • Thad Heartfield 2003-2009
  • John H. Hannah, Jr. 2001-2003
  • Richard A. Schell 1994-2001
  • Robert Manley Parker 1990-1994
  • William Wayne Justice 1980-1990
  • Joseph Jefferson Fisher 1967-1980
  • Joseph Warren Sheehy 1954-1967

Judges Succession of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (1857 to present)

U.S. District Court for the District of Texas 1846-1857

December 29, 1845
9 Stat. 1

Waltrous, John C.
1846-1857

The act of February 21, 1857 established two districts in Texas, Eastern and Western. The act transferred the judgeship to the Eastern District of Texas.

U.S. District Court Judges for the Eastern District of Texas

Act of Feb. 21, 1857
11 Stat. 164
Act of February 10, 1954
68 Stat. 8
Act of June 2, 1970
84 Stat. 294

Waltrous, John C.
1857-1870

Cecil, Lamar J. R.
1954-1958

Steger, William M.
1970-1987

Winch, Joel C. C.
1870-1871

Fisher, Joseph J.
1959-1984
Schell, Richard A.
1988-2015

Morril, Amos
1872-1883

Hall, Sam B., Jr.
1985-1994

Jordan, Sean D.
2019-Present

Sabin, Chauncey B.
1884-1890

Folsom, David
1995-2012
 

Bryant, David E.
1890-1910

Schroeder, Robert W. III
2014-Present
 

Russell, Gordon J.
1910-1919

   

Estes, W. Lee
1920-1930

   

Bryant, Randolph
1931-1951

   

Sheehy, Joseph W.
1951-1967

   

Justice, William W.
1968-1998

   

Ward, T. John
1999-2011

   

Mazzant, Amos L., III
2014-Present

   

 

Act of October 20, 1978
92 Stat. 1629
Act of July 10, 1984
98 Stat. 333
Parker, Robert M.
1979-1994
Cobb, Howell
1985-2001
Heartfield, Thad
1995-2010
Clark, Ron
2002-Present
Gilstrap, J. Rodney
2011-Present
Truncale, Michael J.
2019-Present

 

Act of July 10, 1984
98 Stat. 333
Act of December 1, 1990
104 Stat. 5089
Act of November 2, 2002
116 Stat. 1758
Brown, Paul N.
1985-2001
Hannah, John H., Jr.
1994-2003
Crone, Marcia A.
2003-Present
Davis, Leonard E.
2002-2015

Schneider, Michael H., Sr.
2004-2016

 
Barker, J. Campbell
2019-Present
Kernodle, Jeremy D.
2018-Present
 

 

Read more about the history of the Eastern District of Texas Judgeships.