Information About the Kansas District Court

District Courts in the State of Kansas are located in 3 cities: Kansas City, Topeka and Wichita. The first judge of the court was appointed by the legendary U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, which was Archibald Williams.

The U.S. Attorney for this District Court represents the U.S. in matters of criminal and civil litigation. The first person to be appointed as the U.S. Attorney was Franklin Pierce in the year 1854.

Structure of District Courts

The Kansas District Court is one of 94 U.S. federal district courts that are spread over the 50 states plus territories. These are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil as well as criminal cases are filed in the district court and they have been designated as a court of equity, admiralty and law.

There is a U.S. bankruptcy court that is associated with every District Court. In each judicial district, there is a minimum of 1 courthouse, and there are many where you will find more.

Other federal trial courts have nationwide jurisdiction over certain types of cases. For instance:

•    The U.S. International Trade Court has the jurisdiction to hear cases involving international trade and customs issues.
•    The United States Court of Federal Claims hears most claims for money against the United States, including disputes over federal contracts, unlawful takings of private property by the federal government, and suits for injury on federal property or by a federal employee.
•    The United States Tax Court hears contested pre-assessment determinations of taxes.

Federal district courts also have concurrent jurisdiction over many of these, and a federal district court is the only one with jurisdiction over criminal cases. In practice, about 80% of cases are civil and 20% criminal.

The trial courts are U.S. District Courts, followed by U.S. Courts of Appeal, and then the U.S. Supreme Court. Whether state or federal, the judicial system begins with a court of first instance, is appealed to an appellate court, and then ends at the court of last resort.

Kansas District Court Specifics

The U.S. District Kansas Court is the federal court of the district with jurisdiction over the state. It was established in 1861, and it replaced the earlier territorial court. Appeals from the District of Kansas are made to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

As of now, the court has 6 assigned judges operating from the Robert J. Dole U.S. Courthouse in Kansas City, the Frank Carlson Federal Building in Topeka, and the United States Courthouse in Wichita. In case you have queries to make, here are the contact locations:
 
•    Clerk’s Office, 500 State Ave. 259 U.S. Courthouse, Kansas City, Kansas 66101. Phone: (913) 551-6719. Email: ksd_clerks_kansascity@ksd.uscourts.gov.
•    Clerk’s Office, 444 S.E. Quincy, 490 U.S. Courthouse, Topeka, Kansas 66683. Phone: (785) 295-2610. Email: ksd_clerks_topeka@ksd.uscourts.gov.
•    Clerk’s Office, 401 N. Market, 204 U.S. Courthouse, Wichita, Kansas 67202. Phone: (316) 269-6491. Email: ksd_clerks_wichita@ksd.uscourts.gov.

The Clerk's Office is open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Electronic Filing of Court Documents

With implementation of the Electronic Case Filing system, now it has become legally mandatory for most cases to file the paper documentation using this method. You can now simply log in to the state’s website and file.

For additional information, you can look up Section (i) of the Administrative Procedures Governing the Filing and Service by Electronic Means at http://www.med.uscourts.gov/ecf/adminprocedures.htm.

In October of 2008, the U. S. District Court for the District of Kansas announced the implementation of a new case retrieval system. This new system was developed in-house to replace a prior retrieval system and to supplement the U.S. Courts Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system. You can visit the court’s new 18-page site at www.ksd.uscourts.gov for instant access.