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The SDNY seems to hear a lot of high-profile civil and criminal cases that many might argue verge on jurisdictional overreach or extraterritorial jurisdiction. In any case they certainly see a lot of "juicy" matters, and seem to be especially powerful as a branch of the judiciary, and to like to throw their weight around. What is it about this section of the court system that results in this peculiar phenomenon, captured in that it is widely referred to as the "Sovereign District of New York"?

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    I think it's less a matter that the court is particularly powerful, but rather that the U.S. Attorney's office for that district has, for various reasons, tended to be the one to handle particularly major and international cases (which then, of course, are heard in SDNY District Court). It probably has something to do with the district including New York City, which is a major hub of global finance, an entry and exit point for international travelers, a terrorism target, etc.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Dec 17, 2022 at 19:17
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    And one other point is that many US laws have extraterritorial jurisdiction. In such cases, AFAIK, they can in principle be prosecuted by any US Attorney and heard in any US District Court, but DoJ has found it expedient to "centralize" these functions in one particular district, which happens to be SDNY.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Dec 17, 2022 at 19:23
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    @user6726 not really, I think it may more be a case of accepting apparently widely held political characterisations of their rulings as a premise to the question. I mean, I did not coin the nickname "Sovereign District of NY."
    – Seeking answers
    Dec 17, 2022 at 19:24
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    @NateEldredge that all makes good sense to me, and I think has the makings of a pretty good answer!
    – Seeking answers
    Dec 17, 2022 at 19:25
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    @Trish three of New York City's five boroughs are in the Eastern District of New York.
    – phoog
    Dec 19, 2022 at 13:59

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The SDNY seems to hear a lot of high-profile civil and criminal cases ... What is it about this section of the court system that results in this peculiar phenomenon, captured in that it is widely referred to as the "Sovereign District of New York"?

There are a lot of people living and working in the SDNY, and a lot of them have a very high profile. Perhaps most critically, the district notably contains the center of the US financial sector. Here's the second paragraph of the district's Wikipedia article:

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. It often has jurisdiction over America's largest financial institutions and prosecution of white-collar crime and other federal crimes. Because of its age and influence, it is sometimes colloquially called the "Mother Court" or the "Sovereign District of New York." The district 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.

As to the topic of extraterritorial jurisdiction, that is generally a feature of certain acts of congress. If any district court exceeds the authority granted to it by congress, it can be overruled by the appeals court (in this case, the second circuit) or the supreme court if the party harmed by the judicial overreach appeals the ruling.

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