U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio is a United States district court, a federal trial court where most federal civil and criminal cases are first heard. It lies within the Sixth 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 |
|---|---|---|
| James G. Carr | Clinton (D) | 1994 |
| Solomon Oliver Jr. | Clinton (D) | 1994 |
| Peter C. Economus | Clinton (D) | 1995 |
| Patricia Anne Gaughan | Clinton (D) | 1995 |
| Donald C. Nugent | Clinton (D) | 1995 |
| James S. Gwin | Clinton (D) | 1997 |
| Dan A. Polster | Clinton (D) | 1998 |
| John R. Adams | Bush (R) | 2003 |
| Christopher A. Boyko | Bush (R) | 2005 |
| Jack Zouhary | Bush (R) | 2006 |
| Sara Elizabeth Lioi | Bush (R) | 2007 |
| Benita Yalonda Pearson | Obama (D) | 2010 |
| Jeffrey James Helmick | Obama (D) | 2012 |
| Pamela Ann Barker | Trump (R) | 2019 |
| J. Philip Calabrese | Trump (R) | 2020 |
| James Ray Knepp II | Trump (R) | 2020 |
| Bridget Meehan Brennan | Biden (D) | 2022 |
| Charles Esque Fleming | Biden (D) | 2022 |
| David Augustin Ruiz | Biden (D) | 2022 |
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 1855.
Source: FJC Biographical Directory. Data last verified 2026-06-28. Verify against the primary source before relying.