United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

• Court
• Judges

District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals Chief: Judges: 7 Posts: 11 Vacancies: 4 Active judges Brown • Garland • Griffith • Henderson • Kavanaugh • Rogers • Tatel Senior Judges Buckley • Edwards • Ginsburg • Randolph • David Sentelle • Silberman • Williams Former Judges

Key: (Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.) 0% 0%-10% 10%-25% 25%-40% More than 40%

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, known informally as the D.C. Circuit, is the federal appellate court for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Appeals from the D.C. Circuit, as with all the U.S. Courts of Appeals, are heard on a discretionary basis by the Supreme Court. It should not be confused with the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, which is roughly equivalent to a state supreme court in the District of Columbia, or with the Federal Circuit, whose jurisdiction is limited only by subject matter. The court was established in 1893 and currently has a total of eleven seats. The court is located at the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington D.C..

Vacancy warning level

Currently the vacancy warning level for the District of Columbia Circuit is set at orange. The court currently has four vacancies out of their eleven total seats, constituting 36% of the total seats. However, there are two pending nominations awaiting action by the Senate.

Jurisdiction

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has appellate jurisdiction over cases heard by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The Court is located in the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse and William B. Bryant Annex in Washington D.C..

Cases heard

The District of Columbia Circuit has appellate jurisdiction over cases heard in one of its subsidiary districts. These cases can include civil and criminal matters that fall under federal law.

Case load

Federal Court Case Load Statistics*

Year	Starting case load:	Cases filed:	Total cases:	Cases terminated:	Remaining cases	Terminations on merits:	Terminations on Procedure	Cross Appeals:	Total Terminations:	Written decisions per Judge**
2010	1305	1178	2483	1189	1294	520	435	234	1189	53
2009	1572	1097	2669	1361	1308	561	586	214	1361	56
2008	1550	1307	2857	1285	1572	557	510	218	1285	51
2007	1549	1310	2859	1309	1550	541	561	207	1309	49
2006	1463	1281	2744	1195	1549	584	457	154	1195	58

*All statistics are taken from the Official Federal Courts' Website (for District Courts) and reflect the calendar year through September.    **This statistic reflects only judges that are active for the entire 12 month period.

Clerk's office

The official Clerk of Court is Mark Langer. The Office is open for filing from 9am to 4pm Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays. Office closing due to incliment weather will be announced on the Clerk's official phone line, at (202) 216-7000 and (202) 216-7296 and will also be announced on the following stations:WRC (Channel 4), WTTG (Channel 5), WJLA-TV (Channel 7), and WUSA (Channel 9).

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse
333 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington D.C., DC 20001
202-216-7000

History

Court history

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was established on February 9, 1893 by 27 Stat. 434 which granted the court one chief justice position and two associate justice seats. Over the years eight additional seats were added resulting in a total of eleven posts.

Judicial posts

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit:

Year	Statute	Total Seats
February 9, 1893	27 Stat. 434	3
June 19, 1930	46 Stat. 785	5
May 31, 1938	52 Stat. 584	6
August 3, 1949	63 Stat. 493	9
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	11
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	12
January 7, 2008	121 Stat. 2534	11

Notable cases

This page is missing notable case information.

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For a search-able list of decisions from the DC Circuit, please see:
DC Circuit Searchable Opinions

Federal courthouse

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit shares the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Historical Significance

The land for the court house was originally obtained by the U.S. government for the creation of the District of Columbia. It was originally assigned to hold the U.S. Mint but was later changed when the mint remained in Philadelphia. The site was sold by the U.S. government on May 7, 1822 and developed as a commercial and residential district. The current court building was commission in 1949 to local architect Louis Justement for his original building plans. In August of 1949 ground was broken and the building was finally opened in 1952. In March 1977 the courthouse was renamed the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse. Prettyman was a judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1945-1971. To read the full history of the court building, see the Official Courthouse History.

Visiting the court

• Hours: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, except holidays.

The court is located on 333 Constitution Avenue Northwest in Washington, D.C.. The court is accessible through the Judiciary Square or Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter Metro stations.

The court bans visitors from bringing in liquids, aerosols, and gels that in excess of 3.4 ounces into the building. Visitors are allowed to carry into the courthouse up to three liquid containers weighing 3.4 ounces or less. The policy has been in effect since April 5, 2010. Building tenants, judges, court staff, and jurors with their jury summons are exempt the ban.

Also, the court provides counsel an array of technological devices that are equipped in most courtrooms.

See also

• United States court of appeals

External links

• DC Circuit website
• Judges of the Court
• The Blog of Legal Times, "D.C. Circuit: Bin Laden death images can remain secret," May 21, 2013
• The Blog of Legal Times, "D.C. Court: Judges Can Investigate Juror Racial Bias," May 17, 2013
• The Blog of Legal Times, "DOJ Asks D.C. Circuit to Keep Surveillance Law Memo Secret," May 10, 2013
• The Atlantic, "How Vacancies on the D.C. Circuit Court Are Swaying Policy in America," May 10, 2013

References

District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals Chief: Judges: 7 Posts: 11 Vacancies: 4 Active judges Brown • Garland • Griffith • Henderson • Kavanaugh • Rogers • Tatel Senior Judges Buckley • Edwards • Ginsburg • Randolph • David Sentelle • Silberman • Williams Former Judges

Key: (Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.) 0% 0%-10% 10%-25% 25%-40% More than 40%

Active judges

Article III judges

See: Article III federal judge
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has 11 posts and 4 vacancies. The current Chief Justice is David Sentelle. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Judge Janice Brown	1949	Greenville, AL	W. Bush	6/10/2005 - Present		Stephen F. Williams	California State U. '74	U. of California Los Angeles Law '77
Judge Merrick Garland	1952	Illinois	Clinton	3/20/1997 - Present		Abner Mikva	Harvard '74	Harvard Law '77
Judge Thomas Griffith	1954	Yokohama, Japan	W. Bush	6/29/2005 - Present		Patricia Wald	Brigham Young U. '78	U. of Virginia Law '85
Judge Karen Henderson	1944	Oberlin, OH	H.W. Bush	7/5/1990 - Present		Kenneth Starr	Duke U. '66	U. of North Carolina Law '69
Judge Brett Kavanaugh	1965	Washington D.C.	W. Bush	5/29/2006 - Present		Laurence Silberman	Yale '87	Yale Law '90
Judge Judith Rogers	1939	New York, NY	Clinton	3/11/1994 - Present		Clarence Thomas	Radcliffe College '61	Harvard Law '64
Judge David Tatel	1942	Washington D.C.	Clinton	10/7/1994 - Present		Ruth Bader Ginsburg	U. of Michigan '63	U. of Chicago Law '66

Pending appointments

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has 2 appointees pending and 4 vacancies. This is a list of the current pending appointees to the court:

Judge	Confirmation	Bachelors	Law
Srikanth Srinivasan		Stanford U., B.A., 1989	Stanford U. Law, J.D., 1995

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has 7 judges on senior status currently. This is a list of the current senior judges on the court:

Judge	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Senior	Bachelors	Law
Senior judge Stephen F. Williams	Reagan	6/16/1986 - 9/30/2008		9/30/2008 - Present	Yale U. '58	Harvard Law '61
Former Judge David Sentelle	Reagan	9/11/1987 - 2/12/2013	2008-2013	2/12/2013 - Present	U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill '65	U. of North Carolina Law '68
Senior Judge Douglas Ginsburg	Reagan	10/14/1986 - 10/14/2011	2001-2008	10/14/2011 - Present	Cornell'70	U. of Chicago Law '73
Senior judge Harry Edwards	Carter	2/20/1980 - 11/3/2005	1994-2001	11/3/2005 - Present	Cornell U. '62	U. of Michigan Law '65
Senior judge Arthur Randolph	H.W. Bush	7/16/1990 - 11/1/2008		11/1/2008 - Present	Drexel U. '66	U. of Pennsylvania Law '69
Senior judge Laurence Silberman	Reagan	10/28/1985 - 11/1/2000		11/1/2000 - Present	Dartmouth '57	Harvard Law '61
Senior judge James Buckley	Reagan	12/17/1985 - 8/31/1996		8/31/1996 - Present	Yale '43	Yale Law '49

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Patricia Wald	1986-1991
Elijah Prettyman	1958-1960
Abner Mikva	1991-1994
Carl McGowan	1981
David Bazelon	1962-1978
Wilbur Miller	1960-1962
Spottswood Robinson	1981-1986
James Wright	1978-1981
Harry Edwards	1994-2001
Douglas Ginsburg	2001-2008
David Sentelle	2008-2013
Henry Edgerton	1955-1958
Harold Montelle Stephens	1948-1955
George Ewing Martin	1924-1937
Duncan Groner	1937-1948
Constantine Joseph Smyth	1917-1924
Seth Shepard	1905-1917
Richard Henry Alvey	1893-1905
William Cranch	1806-1855

In order to qualify for the office of Chief Judge in one of the federal courts, a judge must have been in active service on the court for at least one year, be under the age of 65, and have not previously served as Chief Judge. A vacancy in the office of Chief Judge is filled by the judge highest in seniority among the group of qualified judges. The Chief Judge serves for a term of seven years or until age 70, whichever occurs first. The age restrictions are waived if no members of the court would otherwise be qualified for the position. Unlike the Chief Justice of the United States, a Chief Judge returns to active service after the expiration of his or her term and does not create a vacancy on the bench by the fact of his or her promotion. See 28 U.S.C. § 45.

These rules for Chief Judges in the federal judiciary have been in effect since October 1, 1982. The office of Chief Judge was created in 1948. Until August 6, 1959, the position was filled in each federal court by the longest-serving judge who had not elected to retire on what has since 1958 been known as senior status or declined to serve as Chief Judge. From then until 1982 it was filled by the senior such judge who had not turned 70.

Former judges

1. William Cranch
2. James Markham Marshall
3. Allen Bowie Duckett
4. Nicholas Battalle Fitzhugh
5. William Kilty
6. James Sewall Morsell
7. Buckner Thruston
8. James Dunlop
9. William Matthew Merrick
10. Richard Henry Alvey
11. Martin Ferdinand Morris
12. Seth Shepard
13. Louis Emory McComas
14. Charles Holland Duell
15. Charles Henry Robb
16. Josiah Alexander Van Orsdel
17. William Hitz
18. Constantine Joseph Smyth
19. Duncan Groner
20. George Ewing Martin
21. James McPherson Proctor
22. Harold Montelle Stephens
23. Henry Edgerton
24. Justin Miller
25. James Wright
26. Walter Bastian
27. Edward Tamm
28. Spottswood Robinson
29. Thurman Arnold
30. Bennett Clark
31. Wilbur Miller
32. David Bazelon
33. Robert Bork
34. John Danaher
35. Charles Fahy
36. George MacKinnon
37. Carl McGowan
38. Abner Mikva
39. Elijah Prettyman
40. Roger Robb
41. Kenneth Starr
42. Patricia Wald
43. George Thomas Washington
44. Malcolm Wilkey
45. George Edward MacKinnon
46. James Proctor