US District Court for the Southern District of New York

The US District Court for the Southern District of New York is a federal trial court serving New York, Bronx, Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess and Sullivan counties. Those counties also provide its jury pool. It hears cases in Manhattan, White Plains and Poughkeepsie, so its territory extends beyond New York City.

Its predecessor, the District of New York, first sat in November 1789 at the Old Royal Exchange in lower Manhattan. Judge James Duane, appointed by George Washington, presided. the Court's own history identifies it as the first court to sit under the new United States Constitution, preceding the Supreme Court by several months. The district and its successor have continued sitting in New York since then. [Official court history](https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/about).