Indiana’s federal court system toasts its bicentennial year

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Indiana’s federal court system is celebrating its 200th year, months after the state marked its own bicentennial.

Three months after Indiana became the 19th state in December 1816, Congress organized the state as a single federal judicial district.

That single-judge court didn’t convene for its first session until May 5, 1817, in the state’s first capital in the southern Indiana city of Corydon. The court later moved to Indianapolis when it became the state’s capital.

Congress split Indiana into two federal court districts in 1928, initially giving both districts a single judge. Those two districts remain but they now boast five full-time district judgeships.

A film that’s in the works about Indiana’s federal court system is expected to air on PBS stations across the state this summer and fall.