is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of the State of New York.

Because it covers Manhattan, the Southern District of New York has long been one of the most active and influential federal trial courts in the United States.

"[7] The district itself has had several prominent judges on its bench, including Learned Hand, Michael Mukasey, and Sonia Sotomayor, and many of the U.S. attorneys for the district have been prominent American legal and political figures, such as Elihu Root, Henry L. Stimson, Robert Morgenthau, Rudy Giuliani, James Comey, Michael J. Garcia, and Preet Bharara.

[14] Public Law 95-408 (enacted October 2, 1978) transferred Columbia, Greene, and Ulster counties from the Southern to the Northern district.

Twenty-one judges from the Southern District of New York have been elevated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit—Samuel Blatchford, Charles Merrill Hough, Learned Hand, Julius Marshuetz Mayer, Augustus Noble Hand, Martin Thomas Manton, Robert P. Patterson, Harold Medina, Irving Kaufman, Wilfred Feinberg, Walter R. Mansfield, Murray Gurfein, Lawrence W. Pierce, Pierre N. Leval, John M. Walker Jr., Sonia Sotomayor, Denny Chin, Barrington Daniels Parker Jr., Gerard E. Lynch, Richard J. Sullivan, and Alison Nathan.

Louis Freeh served as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from September 1993 to June 2001.

Michael Mukasey served as the 81st United States Attorney General under President George W. Bush.

As of January 7, 2025[update]: Chief judges have administrative responsibilities with respect to their district court.