U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Claude M. Hilton | Reagan (R) | 1985 |
| Rebecca Beach Smith | Bush (R) | 1989 |
| Robert E. Payne | Bush (R) | 1992 |
| Leonie M. Brinkema | Clinton (D) | 1993 |
| Raymond Alvin Jackson | Clinton (D) | 1993 |
| Henry E. Hudson | Bush (R) | 2002 |
| Mark Steven Davis | Bush (R) | 2008 |
| Anthony John Trenga | Bush (R) | 2008 |
| John Adrian Gibney Jr. | Obama (D) | 2010 |
| Arenda Lauretta Wright Allen | Obama (D) | 2011 |
| M[ary] Hannah Lauck | Obama (D) | 2014 |
| Rossie David Alston Jr. | Trump (R) | 2019 |
| David John Novak | Trump (R) | 2019 |
| Roderick Charles Young | Trump (R) | 2020 |
| Patricia Tolliver Giles | Biden (D) | 2021 |
| Michael Stefan Nachmanoff | Biden (D) | 2021 |
| Elizabeth Wilson Hanes | Biden (D) | 2022 |
| Jamar Kentrell Walker | Biden (D) | 2023 |
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 1819.
Source: FJC Biographical Directory. Data last verified 2026-06-28. Verify against the primary source before relying.