On March 18, 1966, the Congress passed an Act dividing the two existing federal judicial districts in California (themselves established simultaneously on September 28, 1850, within three weeks of California statehood) into four new districts, and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California was carved out of the old Northern and Southern Districts to create a new thirty-four county district.  Extending from the Oregon border south to Kern County, and the reaches of the San Francisco Bay east to Nevada, the Eastern District spans both California’s agricultural Central Valley and its rugged Sierra Nevada mountains.  It has jurisdiction over a wide and diverse array of legal issues, including constitutional, criminal, environmental, civil rights, and agricultural issues.  Courthouses are located in Sacramento and Fresno, as well as Redding, Bakersfield, and the Yosemite Valley.