About Southern District of New York

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (S.D.N.Y.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties: New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan. The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. The current United States Attorney for the district is Michael J. Garcia. Courthouses are located in Manhattan and White Plains.

The court shares geographic jurisdiction over New York City with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, which manages Kings (Brooklyn), Queens, and Richmond (Staten Island) counties, along with Nassau and Suffolk on Long Island.

The Southern District is one of the most influential and active federal district courts in the United States, largely because of its jurisdiction over New York's major financial centers. When Rudolph Giuliani worked as a federal prosecutor in this district, his unusually aggressive style of litigation combined with the overall power of this district caused legal commentators to joke that S.D.N.Y. stood for the "Sovereign District of New York." date=March 2008

The Southern District of New York was subdivided out of the U.S. District Court for the District of New York on April 9, 1814 along with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.