The district judges shall hold office during good behavior.
Each district judge, except in the District of Columbia, the Southern District of New York, and the Eastern District of New York, shall reside in the district or one of the districts for which he is appointed. Each district judge of the Southern District of New York and the Eastern District of New York may reside within 20 miles of the district to which he or she is appointed.
If the public interest and the nature of the business of a district court require that a district judge should maintain his abode at or near a particular place for holding court in the district or within a particular part of the district the judicial council of the circuit may so declare and may make an appropriate order. If the district judges of such a district are unable to agree as to which of them shall maintain his abode at or near the place or within the area specified in such an order the judicial council of the circuit may decide which of them shall do so.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 62 Stat. 896; Aug. 3, 1949, ch. 387, § 2(b)(1), 63 Stat. 495; Feb. 10, 1954, ch. 6, § 2(b)(13)(a), 68 Stat. 12; Pub. L. 86–3, § 9(c), Mar. 18, 1959, 73 Stat. 8; Pub. L. 87–36, § 2(e)(3), May 19, 1961, 75 Stat. 83; Pub. L. 89–571, § 1, Sept. 12, 1966, 80 Stat. 764; Pub. L. 92–208, § 3(e), Dec. 18, 1971, 85 Stat. 742; Pub. L. 104–317, title VI, § 607, Oct. 19, 1996, 110 Stat. 3860.)