The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (in case citations, E.D. Va.) is one of two United States district courts serving the Commonwealth of Virginia. It has jurisdiction over the Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and Richmond metro areas and surrounding locations with courthouses located in Alexandria, Norfolk, Richmond and Newport News (whose judges are shared with Norfolk).

Appeals from the Eastern District of Virginia are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit.

The United States District Court for the District of Virginia was one of the original 13 courts established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, 1 Stat. 73, on September 24, 1789.^[1][2]

On February 13, 1801, the Judiciary Act of 1801, 2 Stat. 89, divided Virginia into three judicial districts: the District of Virginia, which included the counties west of the Tidewater and south of the Rappahannock River; the District of Norfolk, which included the Tidewater counties south of the Rappahannock; and the District of Potomac, which included the counties north and east of the Rappahannock as well as Maryland counties along the Potomac.^[2] Just over a year later, on March 8, 1802, the Judiciary Act of 1801 was repealed and Virginia became a single district again, 2 Stat. 132, effective July 1, 1802.^[2]

The District of Virginia was subdivided into Eastern and Western Districts on February 4, 1819, by 3 Stat. 478.^[1][2] At that time, West Virginia was still part of Virginia, and was encompassed in Virginia's Western District, while the Eastern District essentially covered what is now the entire state of Virginia. With the division of West Virginia from Virginia during the American Civil War, the Western District of Virginia became the District of West Virginia, and those parts of the Western District that were not part of West Virginia were combined with the Eastern District to again form a single District of Virginia on June 11, 1864, by 13 Stat. 124.^[2] Congress again divided Virginia into the Eastern and Western Districts on February 3, 1871, by 16 Stat. 403.^[2]

During the 1960s, Judge Albert V. Bryan Jr. ran the Alexandria court, often ruled cases on the spot after motions were argued. The court earned the nickname of "rocket docket" for the speed and efficiency for which it processes its cases. Since 1997, the court has processed civil cases the fastest of the 94 federal districts, and eighth fastest in dealing with criminal cases.^[3] Courts at Richmond are located in the Spottswood W. Robinson III and Robert R. Merhige Jr. Federal Courthouse,^[4] having previously been held in the historic Lewis F. Powell Jr. United States Courthouse.

The Eastern District of Virginia court's jurisdiction covers slightly over six million people, comprising approximately 85% of the state's population. Its jurisdiction is grouped into four geographic divisions:

The U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia is Jessica D. Aber,^[6] serving as prosecution for criminal cases brought by the federal government, and representing the United States in civil cases in the court. The U.S. Attorney's office also manages the Project Safe Neighborhoods program within the district to reduce gun violence, and is involved with federal initiatives on drug trafficking, terrorism, cybercrime, and the prevention of elder care abuse.^[7]

As of August 18, 2023^[update]:

Chief judges have administrative responsibilities with respect to their district court. Unlike the Supreme Court, where one justice is specifically nominated to be chief, the office of chief judge rotates among the district court judges. To be chief, a judge must have been in active service on the court for at least one year, be under the age of 65, and have not previously served as chief judge.

A vacancy is filled by the judge highest in seniority among the group of qualified judges. The chief judge serves for a term of seven years, or until age 70, whichever occurs first. The age restrictions are waived if no members of the court would otherwise be qualified for the position.

When the office was created in 1948, the chief judge was the longest-serving judge who had not elected to retire, on what has since 1958 been known as senior status, or declined to serve as chief judge. After August 6, 1959, judges could not become or remain chief after turning 70 years old. The current rules have been in operation since October 1, 1982.

The Eastern District of Virginia has handled many notable cases, including:

• United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui,^[8] No. 01-455-A (E.D. Va.)
• United States v. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali
• United States v. John Walker Lindh,^[8] No. 02-37-A (E.D. Va.)
• Yaser Hamdi v. Donald Rumsfeld,^[8] No. 02-439 (E.D. Va.)
• United States v. Michael Vick,^[8] No. 3:07CR274 (E.D. Va) (the Bad Newz Kennels dogfighting case)
• eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., 271 F. Supp. 2d 789 (E.D. Va. 2002) (in which the court took the position, eventually upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, that a prevailing plaintiff in a patent suit is not necessarily entitled to injunctive relief)
• Extradition of Kevin Dahlgren,^[9] charged with committing mass murder in Brno, Czech Republic in 2013
• Bostic v. Rainey
• Matter of Baby K, controversial ruling to provide life-sustaining care to an anencephalic newborn.
• United States v. Paul J. Manafort Jr.
• Chelsea Manning's contempt of court case
• United States v Daniel Hale
• United States v Javaid Perwaiz
• United States v. Randall Todd Royer, Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Hamdi, Masoud Ahmad Khan, Yong Ki Kwon, Mohammed Aatique, Seifullah Chapman, Donald Thomas Surratt, Caliph Basha Ibn Abdur-Raheem, Khwaja Mahmood Hasan, and Sabri Benkhala (E.D. Va., 2004)
• Cable News Network L.P. v. CNNews.com, 162 F.Supp.2d 484 (E.D. Va., 2001)
• Petition of Nemetz^[10]

List of U.S. Attorneys since 1831^[11][12]

• Thomas E. Burfoot (1831–1833)
• Robert C. Nicholas (1833–1850)
• William T. Joynes (1850–1853)
• John Munford Gregory (1853–1860)
• Patrick H. Aylett (1860–1861)
• A. Judson Crane (1861–1863)
• Lucius H. Chandler (1863–1870)
• Henry H. Wells (1870–1874)
• Lunsford L. Lewis (1874–1882)
• John Sergeant Wise (1882–1883)
• Edmund Waddill Jr. (1883–1885)
• John C. Gibson (1885–1889)
• Thomas R. Borland (1889–1893)
• Francis R. Lassiter (1893–1896)
• William H. White (1896–1898)
• Edgar Allen (1898–1902)
• Lunsford L. Lewis (1902–1905)
• Robert H. Talley (1905)
• Lunsford L. Lewis (1905–1912)
• Duncan Lawrence Groner (1912–1914)
• Richard H. Mann (1914–1919)
• Hiram M. Smith (1914–1920)
• Duncan Lawrence Groner (1920)
• Julien Gunn (1920–1921)
• Duncan Lawrence Groner (1921)
• Paul W. Kear (1921–1931)
• Robert H. Talley (1931–1932)
• Paul W. Kear (1932–1933)
• Charles Sterling Hutcheson (1933–1944)
• Henry Holt (1944–1947)
• George R. Humrickhouse (1947–1951)
• A. Carter Whitehead (1951–1953)
• Lester S. Parsons, Jr. (1953–1957)
• John M. Hollis (1957–1959)
• Joseph S. Bambacus (1959–1961)
• Claude V. Spratley, Jr. (1961–1969)
• Brian P. Gettings (1969–1974)
• David H. Hopkins (1974–1975)
• William B. Cummings (1975–1979)
• Justin W. Williams (1979–1981)
• Elsie L. Munsell (1981–1986)
• Justin W. Williams (1986)
• Henry E. Hudson (1986–1991)
• Kenneth E. Melson (1991)
• Richard Cullen (1991–1993)
• Kenneth E. Melson (1993)
• Helen F. Fahey (1993–2001)
• Kenneth E. Melson (2001)
• Paul McNulty (2001–2006)
• Chuck Rosenberg (2006–2008)
• Dana Boente (2008–2009)
• Neil MacBride (2009–2013)
• Dana Boente (2013–2018)
• Tracy Doherty-McCormick (2018)
• G. Zachary Terwilliger (2018–2021)
• Raj Parekh (2021)
• Jessica D. Aber (2021–present)

• Albert V. Bryan United States Courthouse
• Alexandria City Jail
• Courts of Virginia
• List of current United States district judges
• List of United States federal courthouses in Virginia
• United States Attorney for the District of Virginia