I have wondered the same for myself because I live 30 miles from Detroit and I tried if possible to avoid a 60-mile trip for the Oath - an Oath Ceremony in my county would be simpler...
Back then, I had looked up the Adjudicator's Field Manual
75.2 The Oath Ceremony. [Revised 08-24-2006]
(b) Types of Oath Ceremonies . The oath will either be administered by USCIS at an administrative ceremony, or by a judge in a court ceremony. See Section 310 of the Act.
(1) Advising the Applicant of Oath Ceremony Options . At the time of the examination, you should advise the applicant that he/she can choose to have his oath administered via an administrative ceremony conducted by USCIS or a court ceremony. In certain districts, a court will have exclusive authority to conduct the oath ceremonies, and you should be familiar with your local office’s agreements with the court. In addition, you must inform the applicant that a naturalization ceremony is a solemn and meaningful event and the applicant should plan to dress in pr oper attire to respect the dignity of this event (please no jeans, shorts, or flip flops).
This means that even if you are not requesting a name change, you have in theory the option to request the Oath to be administered at a Court Ceremony
Since Sec. 310. [8 U.S.C. 1421] reads:
(a) Authority in Attorney General.-The sole authority to naturalize persons as citizens of the United States is conferred upon the Attorney General.
(b) Court Authority To Administer Oaths.-
(1) Jurisdiction.-Subject to section 337(c)-
(A) General jurisdiction.-Except as provided in subparagraph (B), each applicant for naturalization may choose to have the oath of allegiance under section 337(a) administered by the Attorney General or by an eligible court described in paragraph (5). Each such eligible court shall have authority to administer such oath of allegiance to persons residing within the jurisdiction of the court.
[...]
(5) Eligible courts.-For purposes of this section, the term "eligible court" means-
(A) a district court of the United States in any State, or
(B) any court of record in any State having a seal, a clerk, and jurisdiction in actions in law or equity, or law and equity, in which the amount in controversy is unlimited.
you may in theory request a specific District Court to administer your Oath.
Now let us be a little realistic. When you just get from the IO the letter with the box "Congratulations" checked, you may simply want the Naturalization Process to move forward at a sustained and swift pace just because it already took a significant time.
It is what I finally opted for: leaving to the USCIS the scheduling of the Oath Ceremony, and it was 5 weeks after the Interview. I guess if I had worked with the Court System to have the Oath administered in my county, I still would be working at it, instead of already being a US Citizen (I had the Oath today!
).
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Detroit DO - NSC
03/19/01 LPR
03/16/07 N-400 sent to NSC
03/20/07 Priority Date
03/23/07 Notice of Action letter received
03/23/07 FP letter received
04/12/07 FP done
07/20/07 Interview Letter Received
09/19/07 Interview passed
10/26/07 Oath Date
