United States District Court for the District of Hawaii

United States District Court for the District of Hawaii
	(D. Haw.)
Appeals to	Ninth Circuit
Established	June 1900
Judges assigned	4
Chief Judge	John Michael Seabright
	Official court website

Coordinates: 21°18′15″N 157°51′44″W / 21.304175°N 157.862334°W / 21.304175; -157.862334

The United States District Court for the District of Hawaii (in case citations, D. Haw.) is the principal trial court of the United States Federal Court System in the state of Hawaii. The court's territorial jurisdiction encompasses the state of Hawaii and the territories of Midway Atoll, Wake Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll, Baker Island, Howland Island, and Jarvis Island.^[1]^[2] It is located at the Prince Kuhio Federal Building in downtown Honolulu, fronting the Aloha Tower and Honolulu Harbor. The court hears both civil and criminal cases as a court of law and equity. A branch of the district court is the United States Bankruptcy Court which also has chambers in the federal building. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has appellate jurisdiction over cases coming out of the District of Hawaii (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit). The United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii represents the United States in all civil and criminal cases within her district. The current Acting United States Attorney is Elliot R. Enoki since March 11, 2017.

History[edit]

When the Territory of Hawaii was formed in 1900, jurisdiction was placed in the Ninth Circuit. On March 18, 1959, when the State of Hawaii was formed, the district had two judgeships for the court. On July 10, 1984 a third judgeship was added, and a fourth added on December 1, 1990.^[3]

Current Judges[edit]

#	Title	Judge	Duty station	Born	Term of service			Appointed by
#	Title	Judge	Duty station	Born	Active	Chief	Senior	Appointed by
11	Chief Judge	John Michael Seabright	Honolulu	1959	2005–present	2015–present	—	G.W. Bush
12	District Judge	Leslie E. Kobayashi	Honolulu	1957	2010–present	—	—	Obama
13	District Judge	Derrick Kahala Watson	Honolulu	1966	2013–present	—	—	Obama
14	District Judge	vacant	—	—	—	—	—	—
7	Senior Judge	Alan Cooke Kay	Honolulu	1932	1986–2000	1991–1999	2000–present	Reagan
8	Senior Judge	David Alan Ezra	San Antonio, Texas^{[Note 1]}	1947	1988–2012	1999–2005	2012–present	Reagan
9	Senior Judge	Helen W. Gillmor	Honolulu	1942	1994–2009	2005–2009	2009–present	Clinton
10	Senior Judge	Susan Oki Mollway	Honolulu	1950	1998–2015	2009–2015	2015–present	Clinton

^ Judge Ezra has sat with the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas since taking senior status.

Vacancies and pending nominations[edit]

Seat	Seat last held by	Vacancy reason	Date of vacancy	Nominee	Date of nomination
2	Susan Oki Mollway	Senior Status	November 6, 2015	0 !–	0 !–

Former Judges[edit]

#	Judge	State	Born–died	Active service	Chief Judge	Senior status	Appointed by	Reason for termination
1	Tavares, Cyrus NilsCyrus Nils Tavares	HI	1902–1976	1960^[4]–1972	1960–1961	1972–1976	Eisenhower, Eisenhower	death
2	Pence, MartinMartin Pence	HI	1904–2000	1961–1974	1961–1974	1974–2000	Kennedy, Kennedy	retirement
3	King, Samuel PailthorpeSamuel Pailthorpe King	HI	1916–2010	1972–1984^[5]	1974–1984	1984–2010	Nixon , Nixon	retirement
4	Wong, Dick YinDick Yin Wong	HI	1920–1978	1975–1978	—	—	Ford, Ford	death
5	Heen, Walter MeheulaWalter Meheula Heen	HI	1928–present	1981^[6]	—	—	Carter, Carter	not confirmed
6	Fong, Harold MichaelHarold Michael Fong	HI	1938–1995	1982–1995	1984–1991	—	Reagan, Reagan	death

Succession of seats[edit]

Seat 1
Seat established on August 21, 1959 by 73 Stat. 4
Tavares	1961–1972
King	1972–1984
Ezra	1988–2012
Watson	2013–present

Seat 2
Seat established on August 21, 1959 by 73 Stat. 4
Pence	1961–1974
Wong	1975–1978
Heen	1981–1981
Fong	1982–1995
Mollway	1998–2015
vacant	2015–present

Seat 3
Seat established on July 10, 1984 by 98 Stat. 333
Kay	1986–2000
Seabright	2005–present

Seat 4
Seat established on December 1, 1990 by 104 Stat. 5089 (temporary)
Gillmor	1994–2009
Kobayashi	2010–present

Judges of the former United States District Court for the District of Hawaii[edit]

Prior to 1959, the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii was an Article IV tribunal in the Territory of Hawaii. The following is a partial list of Judges for that court.

#	Judge	State	Born–died	Active service	Chief Judge	Senior status	Appointed by	Reason for termination
1	Estee, Morris M.Morris M. Estee	HI	1833–1903	1900–1903^[7]	—	—	McKinley, McKinley	death
2	Dole , Sanford B.Sanford B. Dole	HI	1844–1926	1903–1915^[8]	—	—	Roosevelt, Roosevelt	retirement
3	Vaughan , Horace WorthHorace Worth Vaughan	HI	1867–1922	1916–1922^[9]	—	—	Wilson, Wilson	death
4	Poindexter , Joseph BoydJoseph Boyd Poindexter	HI	1869–1951	1917–1924	—	—	Wilson, Wilson	retirement
5	Lyman , William BarkerWilliam Barker Lyman	HI	1882–1939	1926–1934^[10]	—	—	Coolidge, Coolidge	retirement
6	Huber , Seba CormanySeba Cormany Huber	HI	1871-1944	1934–1940^[11]	—	—	Roosevelt	retirement

"Recorder of Deeds" for the Territory of Palmyra Island[edit]

Since 1962, the court's clerk has filed or recorded the deeds and other land title documents for land located in the federal Territory of Palmyra Island, under 48 U.S.C. § 644a, Executive Order No. 10967^[12] and Order No. 2862 of the Secretary of the Interior.^[13]

Notes[edit]

^ 28 U.S.C. § 91.
^ 48 U.S.C. § 644a.
^ "History of the Federal Judiciary: U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii". Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
^ Recess appointment; formally nominated on January 10, 1961, confirmed by the United States Senate on September 21, 1961, and received commission on September 22, 1961.
^ Gary T. Kubota; Ken Kobayashi (December 8, 2010). "'Great judge,' 'great man'". Honolulu Star Advertiser. Retrieved December 9, 2010.
^ Recess appointment made by President Carter; President Ronald Reagan later withdrew the nomination before the United States Senate could act.
^ Oscar Tully Shuck (1901). History of the bench and bar of California: being biographies of many remarkable men, a store of humorous and pathetic recollections, accounts of important legislation and extraordinary cases, comprehending the judicial history of the state. The Commercial printing house. pp. 827–828.
^ "Dole, Sanford Ballard office record". state archives digital collections. state of Hawaii. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
^ Ben R. Guttery (March 2, 2008). Representing Texas. p. 153. ISBN 978-1-4196-7884-4.
^ "Judge William Barker Lymer, Honolulu Star Bulletin, Friday, April 14, 1939, Page 1, Col 8. Honolulu Advertiser Friday, April 14, 1939, Page 1.".
^ "Judge William Barker Lymer, Honolulu Advertiser Friday, April 14, 1939, Page 1.". "Delbert E. Metzger, Hawai'i's Liberal Judge by H. Brett Melendy, page 53" (PDF). "HUBER, SEBA CORMANY, Index to the Honolulu Advertiser & Star Bulletin 1929-1969, 1871-1944 Honorary LLD conferred on judge by Lebanon Valley College, Pa S 6/8/36 p1, Dies at home S 8/16/44 p1". |
^ Executive Order No. 10967, Palmyra Island Administration, October 10, 1961, 26 F.R. 9667.
^ Secretary of the Interior Order No. 2862, Palmyra Island Land Recordation, March 19, 1962, F. R. Doc. 62-2736.

External links[edit]

[4] Judge Ezra has sat with the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas since taking senior status.

[1] 28 U.S.C. § 91.

[2] 48 U.S.C. § 644a.

[3] "History of the Federal Judiciary: U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii". Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved December 10, 2010.

[5] Recess appointment; formally nominated on January 10, 1961, confirmed by the United States Senate on September 21, 1961, and received commission on September 22, 1961.

[6] Gary T. Kubota; Ken Kobayashi (December 8, 2010). "'Great judge,' 'great man'". Honolulu Star Advertiser. Retrieved December 9, 2010.

[7] Recess appointment made by President Carter; President Ronald Reagan later withdrew the nomination before the United States Senate could act.

[8] Oscar Tully Shuck (1901). History of the bench and bar of California: being biographies of many remarkable men, a store of humorous and pathetic recollections, accounts of important legislation and extraordinary cases, comprehending the judicial history of the state. The Commercial printing house. pp. 827–828.

[9] "Dole, Sanford Ballard office record". state archives digital collections. state of Hawaii. Retrieved September 9, 2010.

[texas-10] Ben R. Guttery (March 2, 2008). Representing Texas. p. 153. ISBN 978-1-4196-7884-4.

[11] "Judge William Barker Lymer, Honolulu Star Bulletin, Friday, April 14, 1939, Page 1, Col 8. Honolulu Advertiser Friday, April 14, 1939, Page 1.".

[12] "Judge William Barker Lymer, Honolulu Advertiser Friday, April 14, 1939, Page 1.". "Delbert E. Metzger, Hawai'i's Liberal Judge by H. Brett Melendy, page 53" (PDF). "HUBER, SEBA CORMANY, Index to the Honolulu Advertiser & Star Bulletin 1929-1969, 1871-1944 Honorary LLD conferred on judge by Lebanon Valley College, Pa S 6/8/36 p1, Dies at home S 8/16/44 p1". |

[13] Executive Order No. 10967, Palmyra Island Administration, October 10, 1961, 26 F.R. 9667.

[14] Secretary of the Interior Order No. 2862, Palmyra Island Land Recordation, March 19, 1962, F. R. Doc. 62-2736.

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v t e Current active district judges of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Alaska	Burgess Gleason 1 seat vacant
Arizona	Collins Jorgenson Campbell Snow Zipps Logan Tuchi Humetewa Márquez Rayes Soto 2 seats vacant
C. California	Phillips Real Wilson Carter Anderson Walter Klausner Otero Selna Carney Fischer Guilford Gutierrez Wright Wu Gee Staton Kronstadt Fitzgerald Bernal Olguin Birotte 6 seats vacant
E. California	O'Neill England Mendez Mueller Nunley Drozd
N. California	Hamilton Alsup White Seeborg Koh Davila Chen Rogers Tigar Orrick Donato Freeman Chhabria Gilliam
S. California	Moskowitz Burns Sabraw Hayes Houston Benitez Sammartino Anello Battaglia Bencivengo Curiel Bashant 1 seat vacant
Hawaii	Seabright Kobayashi Watson 1 seat vacant
Idaho	Winmill Nye
Montana	Christensen Morris Watters
Nevada	Navarro Mahan Du Gordon Dorsey Boulware 1 seat vacant
Oregon	Mosman Aiken Hernandez Simon McShane 1 seat vacant
E. Washington	Rice Peterson Bastian Mendoza Jr.
W. Washington	Martinez Leighton Jones Settle 3 seats vacant
Guam	Tydingco-Gatewood
N. Mariana Islands	Manglona

v t e Current senior district judges of the Ninth Circuit
Alaska	Holland Singleton Sedwick Beistline
Arizona	Rosenblatt McNamee Silver Zapata Bolton Teilborg Martone Bury Wake
C. California	Hatter Marshall Keller Lew Pregerson Fairbank Snyder
E. California	Shubb Burrell Ishii
N. California	Henderson Armstrong Whyte Wilken Chesney Illston Breyer Fogel
S. California	Enright Miller Whelan Lorenz Huff
Hawaii	Kay Ezra Gillmor Mollway
Idaho	Lodge
Montana	Lovell Molloy Haddon
Nevada	George McKibben Hunt Dawson Hicks Jones
Oregon	Panner Redden Marsh Jones Haggerty King Brown
E. Washington	Quackenbush Nielsen Van Sickle Whaley Shea Suko
W. Washington	McGovern Rothstein Coughenour Dimmick Bryan Zilly Lasnik Pechman Robart
Guam	Unpingco
N. Mariana Islands	Munson

v t e United States district and territorial courts
List of United States district and territorial courts

District Courts	Alabama (M, N, S) Alaska Arizona Arkansas (E, W) California (C, E, N, S) Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida (M, N, S) Georgia (M, N, S) Hawaii Idaho Illinois (C, N, S) Indiana (N, S) Iowa (N, S) Kansas Kentucky (E, W) Louisiana (E, M, W) Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan (E, W) Minnesota Mississippi (N, S) Missouri (E, W) Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York (E, N, S, W) North Carolina (E, M, W) North Dakota Ohio (N, S) Oklahoma (E, N, W) Oregon Pennsylvania (E, M, W) Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee (E, M, W) Texas (E, N, S, W) Utah Vermont Virginia (E, W) Washington (E, W) West Virginia (N, S) Wisconsin (E, W) Wyoming
Territorial courts	Guam Northern Mariana Islands Virgin Islands
Extinct courts	Former United States district courts United States District Court for the District of Orleans District of Potomac Eastern District of Illinois District of the Canal Zone District of China