Information About the Maryland District Court

Though the Supreme Court was set up by the Constitution’s Article III, the U.S. Federal District Courts were set up by the U.S. Congress. One of the more notable facts about Maryland's Federal District Court is that one of the signatories to the Declaration of Independence, William Paca, was a judge of the Maryland District Court.

Locating the Maryland District Court

The U.S. District Court of Maryland is the court with federal jurisdiction over the State of Maryland. The U.S. Attorney for Maryland represents the country in civil and criminal litigation in the court. The website for the District Court of Maryland is http://www.mdd.uscourts.gov.

The U.S. District Court for Maryland has two divisions:

The Northern or Baltimore Division includes a Chief Judge with two senior judges and there are 6 additional judges and the Chief Clerk of Court. It is located at 101 W. Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. You can call (410) 962-3625; 1-800-492-0476 (automated case information, toll free) or fax: (410) 962-7574.

The Southern or Greenbelt Division has one senior judge, 4 additional judges and a Chief Deputy Clerk of Court. It is located at 6500 Cherrywood Lane, Greenbelt, MD 20770. You can call (301) 344-0660.

District Court Jurisdiction

Both criminal as well as civil cases are filed in the District Court, which is a designated court of “law, equity, and admiralty”. A U.S. Bankruptcy Court is also associated with each United States District Court.

Other federal courts of trial have jurisdiction all over the country on some case types, but it is this court in the district that has concurrent jurisdiction on many such cases. You must also know that it is the District Court that has jurisdiction in criminal cases.

If you have to submit any filings at the federal District Court of Maryland, you need to remember that in keeping with the terms of the E-Government Act of 2002, you are expected to make sure that you do not include, or partially redact where inclusion is necessary, a number of personal data from all filings submitted to the court.

These include Social Security numbers, names of minor children, dates of birth, financial account numbers and home addresses (in criminal cases only). 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.

District Court Appeals for Maryland

If you are dissatisfied with a federal district court (or equivalent court) decision, you may appeal to a U.S. Court of Appeals, in this case the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals based in Richmond, VA at the Lewis F. Powell Federal Courthouse.

Failing that, you can ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision. Understand, though, that the Supreme Court usually is not bound to do so, and it is the final arbiter of federal constitutional questions.