United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida

thumb|Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. United States Courthouse in [[Miami in 2007]]

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (in case citations, S.D. Fla. or S.D. Fl.) is the federal United States district court with territorial jurisdiction over the southern part of the state of Florida.

Appeals from cases brought in the Southern District of Florida are to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).

History

19th century

On the same day that Florida was admitted as a state, March 3, 1845, Congress enacted legislation creating the United States District Court for the District of Florida, . On February 23, 1847, this District was subdivided into Northern and Southern Districts, by . the Elián González case, notorious Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein, a 2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida case, the prosecution of José Padilla, and one of the federal prosecutions of Donald Trump.

Jurisdiction

The court's jurisdiction comprises the nine counties of Broward, Highlands, Indian River, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, and St. Lucie. The district includes the South Florida metropolitan area of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach. It comprises and approximately 6.3 million people. Courthouses, corresponding to the five divisions of the district, are located in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Pierce, Key West, Miami, and West Palm Beach. The court's offices are located in Miami.

United States attorney and marshal

The United States attorney for the Southern District of Florida represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. , the United States attorney is Jason Reding Quiñones.

The United States Attorney's office has a staff of approximately 233 assistant United States attorneys and 227 support personnel. The main office is located in Miami, Florida, with three staffed branch offices located in Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Fort Pierce and one unstaffed branch office located in Key West. There is also a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) office in West Miami-Dade and a Health Care Fraud Facility in Miramar.

On August 28, 2018, Gadyaces S. Serralta was confirmed by the United States Senate to be the United States marshal.

Organization of the court

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida is one of three federal judicial districts in Florida. The District has five divisions:

Fort Pierce Division comprises the following counties: Highlands, Okeechobee, Indian River, St. Lucie, and Martin.

West Palm Beach Division comprises Palm Beach County.

| Jeffrey Kuntz

| April 14, 2026

Former judges

Chief judges

Succession of seats

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United States attorneys

List of U.S. attorneys since 1828

William Allison McRea (1828–1829)
John G. Stower (1829–1830)
John K. Campbell (1830–1831)
Edward Chandler (1831–1834)
Adam Gordon (1834)
Wylie P. Clark (1834–1839)
Charles Walker (1839–1840)
L. Windsor Smith (1840–1842)
George W. McRae (1842–1847)
L. Windsor Smith (1847–1850)
William R. Hackley (1850–1858)
John L. Tatum (1858–1861)
Thomas J. Boynton (1861–1863)
Homer G. Plantz (1863–1869)
Claiborn R. Mobley (1869–1876)
John Tyler Jr. (1876–1877)
George B. Patterson (1877–1886)
Livingstone W. Bethel (1886–1890)
George B. Patterson (1890–1894)
Owen J. H. Summers (1894)
Frank Clark (1894–1897)
Joseph N. Stripling (1897–1902)
John Moses Cheney (1902–1912)
Richard P. Marks (1912–1913)
Herbert S. Phillips (1913–1921)
William M. Gober (1921–1929)
Wilburn P. Hughes (1929–1933)
John W. Holland (1933–1936)
Herbert S. Phillips (1936–1953)
James L. Guilmartin (1953–1959)
E. Coleman Madsen (1959–1961)
Edward G. Boardman (1961–1963)
William A. Meadows Jr. (1963–1969)
Robert W. Rust (1969–1977)
Vincent K. Antle (1977)
Jacob V. Eskenazi (1977–1980)
Atlee W. Wampler III (1980–1982)
Stanley Marcus (1982–1985)
Leon B. Kellner (1985–1988)
Dexter Lehtinen (1988–1992)
James McAdams (1992)
Roberto Martinez (1992–1993)
Kendall B. Coffey (1993–1996)
William Keefer (1996–1997)
Thomas Scott (1997–2000)
Guy A. Lewis (2000–2002)
Marcos Jiménez (2002–2005)
Alexander Acosta (2005–2009)
Jeffrey H. Sloman (2009–2010)
Wifredo A. Ferrer (2010–2017)
Benjamin G. Greenberg (2017–2018)
Ariana Fajardo Orshan (2018–2021)
Juan Antonio Gonzalez (acting) (2021–2023)
Markenzy Lapointe (2023–2025)
Jason Reding Quiñones (2025-)

References

External links

United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida official website
Southern District of Florida Blog – By attorney David Markus