United States District Court for the Central District of California

United States District Court for the Central District of California
(C.D. Cal.)
Divisions of the CDCA: Eastern Division in yellow, Southern Division in red, Western Division in blue
Appeals to	Ninth Circuit
Established	September 18, 1966
Judges assigned	28
Chief Judge	Virginia A. Phillips
www.cacd.uscourts.gov

The United States District Court for the Central District of California (in case citations, C.D. Cal.; commonly referred to as the CDCA or CACD) serves over 19 million people in Southern and Central California, making it the most populous federal judicial district. The district was created on September 18, 1966.

Cases from the Central District are appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the United States government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).

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. The boundary line was at the 37th parallel of North Latitude. 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, but it was not until March 18, 1966, that the Eastern and Central Districts were created from portions of the Northern and Southern Districts by 80 Stat. 75.

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California is divided into three divisions, with jurisdiction over seven counties: Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange, Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura.