United States District Court for the Northern District of CaliforniaJudiciary

The United States District Court for the Northern District of California is a federal trial court authorized under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, with courthouses located in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, and Eureka. Its judicial mandate is to hear civil lawsuits, federal criminal prosecutions, and admiralty matters arising within fifteen northern and coastal California counties, including the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley. Established by Congress on September 28, 1850, shortly after California achieved statehood during the Gold Rush, the court historically handled landmark 19th-century land grant and maritime cases, and in the modern era has become one of the nation's most prominent venues for high-profile technology, intellectual property, antitrust, and constitutional litigation.