Western District of Wisconsin
Seventh Circuit
Judgeships
Posts: 2
Judges: 2
Vacancies: 0
Judges
Chief:James D. Peterson
Active judges:William Conley,James D. Peterson Senior judges: Barbara Crabb

TheUnited States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin is one of 94United States district courts. It encompasses much of the western half of the state and is headquartered in the Robert Kastenmeier Federal Courthouse in downtownMadison, Wisconsin.

When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit based in downtownChicago, Illinois, at the Everett M. Dirksen Federal Courthouse and Building.

Vacancies

See also:Current federal judicial vacancies

There are no current vacancies on theUnited States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, out of the court's two judicial positions.

Pending nominations

There are no pending nominees for this court.

Active judges

Article III judges

Active Article III judges by appointing political party

The list below displays the number of active judges by the party of the appointing president. It does not reflect how a judge may rule on specific cases or their own political preferences.

• Democratic appointed: 2
• Republican appointed: 0

Senior judges

Senior judges by appointing political party

The list below displays the number of senior judges by the party of the appointing president. It does not reflect how a judge may rule on specific cases or their own political preferences.

• Democratic appointed: 1
• Republican appointed: 0

Magistrate judges

Federal magistrate judges are federal judges who serve inUnited States district courts, but they are not appointed by the president and they do not serve life terms. Magistrate judges are assigned duties by the district judges in the district in which they serve. They may preside over most phases of federal proceedings, except for criminal felony trials. The specific duties of a magistrate judge vary from district to district, but the responsibilities always include handling matters that would otherwise be on the dockets of the district judges. Full-time magistrate judges serve for renewable terms of eight years. Some federal district courts have part-time magistrate judges, who serve for renewable terms of four years.^[1]

Jurisdiction

The Counties of the Western District of Wisconsin (click for larger map)

The Western District of Wisconsin hasoriginal jurisdiction over cases filed within its jurisdiction. These cases can include civil and criminal matters that fall under federal law.

The geographic jurisdiction of the Western District of Wisconsin consists of all the followingcounties in the western part of the state ofWisconsin.

Caseloads

This section contains court management statistics dating back to 2010. It was last updated in September 2025. Click[show] below for more information on caseload terms and definitions.

History

Court history

The State ofWisconsin was established and organized as one judicial district by Congress onMay 29, 1848 with one post to cover the entire state. This judicial district was not assigned to a judicial circuit and was therefore granted the same jurisdiction as United States circuit courts, excluding appeals and writs of error, which are the jurisdiction of theUnited States Supreme Court.

OnJuly 15, 1862 Statute12 Stat. 576 reorganized the judicial circuits, repealed the circuit court jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the District of Wisconsin, and then assigned the district over to theEighth Circuit. Statute14 Stat. 209 again reorganized the circuits, and assigned U.S. District Court for the District of Wisconsin over to theSeventh Circuit onJuly 23, 1866.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Wisconsin was divided into two judicial districts, known as theEastern District of Wisconsin and theWestern District of Wisconsin onJune 30, 1870, with one judgeship authorized to each district. The sitting judge was assigned over to theEastern District of Wisconsin.

Over time one additional judicial post was added for a total of two current posts.^[2]

Judicial posts

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the Western District of Wisconsin:^[2]

Noteworthy cases

For a searchable list of opinions, please seeOpinions of the Western District of Wisconsin.

Federal courthouse

One courthouse serves the Western District of Wisconsin and is located in Madison.^[3]

About United States District Courts

TheUnited States district courts are the generaltrial courts of theUnited States federal courts. There are 94 such courts. Bothcivil andcriminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of both law and equity.

There is aUnited States bankruptcy court and a number ofbankruptcy judges associated with each United States district court. Eachfederal judicial district has at least one courthouse, and most districts have more than one.

There is at least one judicial district for each state, and one each for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. District courts in three insular areas—the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands—exercise the same jurisdiction as U.S. district courts. Despite their name, these courts are technically not District Courts of the United States. Judges on theseterritorial courts do not enjoy the protections ofArticle III of the Constitution, and serve terms of 10 years rather than for life.

There are677 U.S. District Court judgeships.^[4][5]

The number of federal district judge positions is set by the U.S. Congress in Title 28 of the U.S. Code, Section 133, which authorizes a set number of judge positions, or judgeships, making changes and adjustments in these numbers from time to time.

In order to relieve the pressure of trying the hundreds of thousands of cases brought before the federal district courts each year, many trials are tried by juries, along with a presiding judge.^[6]

Appointments by president

The chart below shows the number of district court judges confirmed by the U.S. Senate through February 1 of the second year of presidents' second term in office. At this point in the term, President Obama had the most district court appointments with 32.

Judges by district

See also:Judicial vacancies in federal courts

The table below displays the number of judges in each district and indicates how many were appointed by presidents from each major political party. It also includes the number of vacancies in a district and how many pending nominations for that district are before theUnited States Senate. The table can be sorted by clicking the column headers above the line, and you can navigate through the pages by clicking the arrows at the top of the table. It is updated every Monday.

Judicial selection

The district courts are served byArticle III federal judges who are appointed for life during "good behavior." They are usually first recommended by senators (or members of the House, occasionally). The President of the United States makes the appointments, which must then be confirmed by the U.S. Senate in accordance withArticle III of the United States Constitution.^[5]

Step	A Candidacy Proceeds	A Candidacy Halts
1. Recommendation made by Congress Member to the President	President Nominates toSenate Judiciary Committee	President Declines Nomination
2. Senate Judiciary Committee interviews Candidate	Sends candidate to Senate for confirmation	Returns candidate to President, who may re-nominate to Committee
3. Senate votes on candidate confirmation	Candidate becomes federal judge	Candidate does not receive judgeship

Magistrate judges

The district courts are also served by magistrate judges. Congress created the judicial office offederal magistrate in 1968. In 1990, the position title was changed tomagistrate judge. The chief judge of each district appoints one or more magistrate judges, who discharge many of the ancillary duties of district judges so judges can handle more trials. There are both full-time and part-time magistrate judge positions, and these positions are assigned to the district courts according to caseload criteria (subject to funding by Congress). A full-time magistrate judge serves a term of eight years; a part-time magistrate judge's term of office is four years.^[7]

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit
• Central District of Illinois
• Northern District of Illinois
• Southern District of Illinois
• Northern District of Indiana
• Southern District of Indiana
• Eastern District of Wisconsin

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• United States District Court, Western District of Wisconsin
• Opinions of the Western District of Wisconsin
• US Attorney's Office for the Western District of Wisconsin

Footnotes

	v • e State ofWisconsin Madison (capital)
Elections	What's on my ballot? |Elections in 2026 |How to vote |How to run for office |Ballot measures
Government	Who represents me? |U.S. President |U.S. Congress |Federal courts |State executives |State legislature |State and local courts |Counties |Cities |School districts |Public policy

v • e Federal judges who have served theUnited States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
Active judges	Chief Judge: James D. Peterson (Federal judge)  •  William Conley (Wisconsin)
Senior judges	Barbara Crabb  •
Magistrate judges	Stephen Crocker  •  Peter Oppeneer  •
Former Article III judges	John Shabaz  •  James Campbell Hopkins  •  Romanzo Bunn  •  Arthur Loomis Sanborn  •  Claude Zeth Luse  •  Patrick Thomas Stone  •  James Edward Doyle  •  David Rabinovitz  •
Former Chief judges	John Shabaz  •  Barbara Crabb  •  James Edward Doyle  •  William Conley (Wisconsin)  •