U.S. Circuit Court, District of Illinois

City: Springfield

County: Sangamon

State: IL

Congress established the U.S. Circuit Court, District of Illinois on March 3, 1819. The law creating the court established Illinois as a district, with a district judge who was to hold sessions twice a year, in May and December, in the state capital. As initially created, the court was not in an existing judicial circuit, so appeals from the court went directly to the United States Supreme Court. In 1837, Congress establish the circuit court of appeals system, placing the District of Illinois within the Seventh Circuit. In 1851, Congress changed the court's biannual sessions to the first Monday in July and the third Monday in December and added additional terms in Chicago on the first Tuesday of October and the third Tuesday of April each year. Congress eliminated the District in 1855, when the state was divided into northern and southern districts.

"An Act to Provide for the Due Execution of the Laws of the United States Within the State of Illinois," 3 March 1819, Statutes at Large of the United States 3 (1846):502-503; "An Act Supplementary to the Act Entitled, 'An Act to Amend the Judicial System of the United States,'" 3 March 1837, Statutes at Large of the United States 5 (1856):176; “An Act providing for an Additional Term of the United States Circuit and District Courts at Chicago, in the District of Illinois,” 3 March 1851, Statutes at Large of the United States 9 (1862):636-37; "An Act to Divide the State of Illinois into Two Judicial Districts," 13 February 1855, Statutes at Large of the United States 10 (1855):606-607.