U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina
U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina is a United States district court, a federal trial court where most federal civil and criminal cases are first heard. It lies within the Fourth Circuit, which reviews its decisions on appeal. This page lists every judge to serve on the court, current and former, with who appointed them and whom they succeeded.
| Judge | Appointed by | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Joseph Fletcher Anderson Jr. | Reagan (R) | 1986 |
| David C. Norton | Bush (R) | 1990 |
| Henry Michael Herlong Jr. | Bush (R) | 1991 |
| Cameron McGowan Currie | Clinton (D) | 1994 |
| Terry L. Wooten | Bush (R) | 2001 |
| Robert Bryan Harwell | Bush (R) | 2004 |
| Richard Mark Gergel | Obama (D) | 2010 |
| Timothy Martin Cain | Obama (D) | 2011 |
| Mary Geiger Lewis | Obama (D) | 2012 |
| Bruce Howe Hendricks | Obama (D) | 2014 |
| Donald Cecil Coggins Jr. | Trump (R) | 2017 |
| Sherri Allen Lydon | Trump (R) | 2019 |
| Joseph Dawson III | Trump (R) | 2020 |
| Jacquelyn Denise Austin | Biden (D) | 2024 |
How a judge gets here. Each judge is nominated by a president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, then holds a numbered seat, for life, until they take senior status, or until they leave the bench. Open any judge to see who appointed them, how the Senate voted, and whom they succeeded, a chain that runs back to 1790.
Source: FJC Biographical Directory. Data last verified 2026-06-28. Verify against the primary source before relying.