Alabama is divided into three judicial districts to be known as the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Alabama.
Northern District
(a) The Northern District comprises five divisions.
(1) The Northwestern Division comprises the counties of Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, and Lawrence.
Court for the Northwestern Division shall be held at Florence.
(2) The Northeastern Division comprises the counties of Cullman, Jackson, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, and Morgan.
Court for the Northeastern Division shall be held at Huntsville.
(3) The Southern Division comprises the counties of Blount, Jefferson, and Shelby.
Court for the Southern Division shall be held at Birmingham.
(4) The Eastern Division comprises the counties of Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, DeKalb, Etowah, Saint Clair, and Talladega.
Court for the Eastern Division shall be held at Anniston.
(5) The Western Division comprises the counties of Bibb, Fayette, Greene, Lamar, Marion, Pickens, Sumter, Tuscaloosa, Walker, and Winston.
Court for the Western Division shall be held at Tuscaloosa.
Middle District
(b) The Middle District comprises three divisions.
(1) The Northern Division comprises the counties of Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chilton, Coosa, Covington, Crenshaw, Elmore, Lowndes, Montgomery, and Pike.
Court for the Northern Division shall be held at Montgomery.
(2) The Southern Division comprises the counties of Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Henry, and Houston.
Court for the Southern Division shall be held at Dothan.
(3) The Eastern Division comprises the counties of Chambers, Lee, Macon, Randolph, Russell, and Tallapoosa.
Court for the Eastern Division shall be held at Opelika.
Southern District
(c) The Southern District comprises two divisions.
(1) The Northern Division comprises the counties of Dallas, Hale, Marengo, Perry, and Wilcox.
Court for the Northern Division shall be held at Selma.
(2) The Southern Division comprises the counties of Baldwin, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Escambia, Mobile, Monroe, and Washington.
Court for the Southern Division shall be held at Mobile.
Notes of Decisions
Freeman v. Bee Mach. Co., 319 U.S. 448 (1943).
· cites it 3× “” Judicial Code § 38, 28 U. S. C. § 81 . While that section does not cure jurisdictional defects present in the state court action, it preserves to the federal District Courts the full arsenal of authority with which they have been endowed.”
In re Greenspan, 910 A.2d 324 (D.C. 2006).
· cites it 2× “The parties do not raise any question concerning the interpretation of the first prong of Rule XI, § 11(a): "any court of the United States as defined in Title 28, Section 451 of the United States Code.”
Bartronics, Inc. v. Power-One, Inc., 510 F. Supp. 2d 634 (S.D. Ala. 2007).
· cites it 2× “See 28 U.S.C. § 81 (c). Court for the Northern Division is held at Selma, while court for the Southern Division is held at Mobile.”
United States v. Grisham, 63 F.3d 1074 (11th Cir. 1995).
“28 U.S.C.A. § 81 (a) (West 1994). Pursuant to the plans, which were adopted by all of the judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District and approved by a panel of the judicial council of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the…”
United States v. Grisham, 841 F. Supp. 1138 (N.D. Ala. 1994).
· cites it 3× “” The area from which jurors are drawn under the Plan corresponds to the boundaries of this court’s jurisdiction as defined by Congress, 28 U.S.C.S. § 81 , with the scope of venue in a criminal case, Fed.”
Hendricks v. Alcoa S.S. Co., 206 F. Supp. 693 (E.D. Pa. 1962).
· cites it 4× “C.A. § 451 states in part: "As used in this title (Title 28): * * * The term `district' and `judicial district' mean the districts enumerated in Chapter 5 of this title.”
In re Henderson, 197 B.R. 147 (Bankr. N.D. Ala. 1996).
“28 U.S.C. § 81 (b)(3). Venue based on residence in the Northern District of Alabama is, *151 therefore, improper with respect to both debtors.”
United States v. Marrian Kolesar, 313 F.2d 835 (5th Cir. 1963).
“§ 124 , Presidio, Texas to El Paso 192 miles; Northern District, Guthrie to Wichita Falls 115 miles; Southern District of Alabama, Northern Division, 28 U.S.C.A. § 81 , Greensboro to Mobile 156 miles.”
United States v. Robert E. Burns, 662 F.2d 1378 (11th Cir. 1981).
“28 U.S.C. § 81 . In that district a substantial portion of all trials and virtually all of the criminal trials are held in the Southern Division at Birmingham.”
28 U.S.C. § 81(c): 3 cases
Mattson, No. 3:25-cv-00036 (E.D. Tenn. Nov. 21, 2025).
Mattson, No. 1:25-cv-00481 (S.D. Ala. Nov. 21, 2025).
Tate, No. 1:23-cv-00090 (S.D. Ala. Jan. 16, 2026).
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