United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

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Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Chief: William Riley Judges: 11 Posts: 11 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Benton • Bye • Colloton • Gruender • Kelly • Murphy • Loken • Shepherd • Smith • Wollman Senior Judges Arnold • Beam • Bowman • Bright • Fagg • Gibson • Hansen • Magill • Melloy • Ross 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 Eighth Circuit, sometimes referred to simply as the Eighth Circuit, is one of the thirteen federal appellate courts. The court was established in 1891 and currently has a total of eleven seats. The court is located at the Thomas Eagleton U.S. Courthouse in St. Louis.

Vacancy warning level

Currently the vacancy warning level for the Eighth Circuit is set at green. The court currently has no vacancies with all eleven seats filled.

Jurisdiction

Map of the Eighth Circuit. Click on a district to find out more about it.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has jurisdiction over the United States district courts in the following United States federal judicial districts:

Eastern District of Arkansas Western District of Arkansas Northern District of Iowa Southern District of Iowa District of Minnesota

Eastern District of Missouri Western District of Missouri District of Nebraska District of North Dakota District of South Dakota

The court is composed of eleven active judges and is based at the Thomas Eagleton U.S. Courthouse in St. Louis. It is one of thirteen United States courts of appeals.

Cases heard

The Eighth 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	1935	2878	4813	3397	1416	2293	951	153	3397	178
2009	1963	3113	5076	3140	1936	2054	927	159	3140	166
2008	2052	3022	5074	3103	1971	1922	1021	160	3103	154
2007	2019	3020	5039	2988	2051	1855	984	149	2988	147
2006	2328	3312	5640	3618	2022	2307	1088	223	3618	160

*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 Michael E. Gans. The main court is located in at St. Louis and can be contacted at:

Thomas F. Eagleton Courthouse
Room 24.329
111 South 10th Street
St. Louis, MO 63102
PHONE: (314) 244-2400

The St. Paul's office can be contacted at:

Room 500 Federal Court Building
316 North Robert Street
St. Paul, MN 55101
PHONE: (651) 848-1300

History

Court history

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The Eighth Circuit was established by the United States Congress in 1981 through the same statute that established the first nine appeals circuits. Over the years, nine additional seats were added to the court resulting in a total of eleven seats. To learn more about the history of the Eighth Circuit, please contact the The Historical Society of the United States Courts in the Eighth Circuit.

Judicial posts

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the Eighth Circuit:

Year	Statute	Total Seats
March 3, 1891	26 Stat. 826	2
July 23, 1894	28 Stat. 115	3
January 31, 1903	32 Stat. 791	4
March 3, 1925	43 Stat. 1116	6
February 28, 1929	45 Stat. 1346	5
May 24, 1940	54 Stat. 219	7
March 18, 1966	80 Stat. 75	8
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	9
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	10
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	11

Notable cases

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

• Court upholds South Dakota abortion law  Judge(s):En banc (full court)      *Planned Parenthood v. State of South Dakota No. 09-3231/3233/3362

In July 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld South Dakota's 2005 abortion law that requires doctors to inform patients that having an abortion is linked to depression and even suicide prior to an operation. The law was challenged as a violation of patients due process and doctor's First Amendment rights. In addition, challengers to the law insisted that the statement required is not scientifically grounded and is yet unproven. The law was ruled unconstitutional by a three judge panel on the appeals court but overturned by an appeal to the court as a whole.

• Lee County School District Racial Discrimination Case  Judge(s):Kermit Bye, Michael Melloy, Laurie Smith Camp      *Sharon Sanders v. Lee County School Dist. No. 1, et al 10-3240

On February 29, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit partially overturned a ruling of the Eastern District of Arkansas, finding the Lee County School District to be guilty of federal discrimination law. Sharon Sanders, a former school finance coordinator, took the district to court following her demotion and subsequent recommendation for dismissal on the basis of race discrimination. According to court records, Sanders and another administrator were demoted following an election where the school board became comprised of a majority of African American members. In the original suit, Sanders was awarded compensatory damages, lost wages, punitive damages and attorney's fees by a jury. Upon appeal, a judge of the Eastern District of Arkansas revoked the lost wages and severely cut her award for attorney's fees. The ruling by the Eighth Circuit ordered new proceedings to determine fees for Sanders' attorney and punitive damages, but fundamentally agreed that she had been discriminated against on the basis of race.

• Appeal in retired NFL players' suit against NFLPA  Judge(s):Unassigned      *Eller v. National Football Association Players Association Civil No. 11-2623 (SRN/JJG).

Retired NFL players have filed with the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to appeal the decision of US District Judge Susan Richard Nelson to dismiss their suit against the NFL Players Association. The original suit was dismissed by Judge Nelson on May 29 in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. The group is led by Hall of Fame defensive end Carl Eller, and claim that retired players lost money during last summer’s collective bargaining negotiations between the NFLPA and team owners. Eller claims that the retirees were shoved out of the negotiation process to streamline the talks. Judge Nelson dismissed the original suit, ruling that the retired players had no legal right to the hundreds of millions of dollars in additional post-career benefits they claimed to have lost due to the lockout negotiations the previous year. In the decision, Judge Nelson wrote that she accepted the factual basis of the retirees’ claims, but disagreed that the current players had acted illegally during the negotiations.

Federal courthouse

This federal judiciary article needs to be expanded.

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The court is located at Thomas Eagleton U.S. Courthouse in St. Louis. The 29-story building was completed in 2000 and contains more than 1.3 million square feet of space. It is the tallest U.S. Federal courthouse at 557 feet. The courthouse is open for visiting from 7am to 6pm, Monday through Friday. A valid I.D. is required for entry into the facility. Tours are available upon request by calling (314) 244-2727.

See also

• United States court of appeals
• Eighth Circuit Court upholds embezzlement ruling
• North Dakota appeals court throws out woman's guilty plea
• U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals rules in favor of South Dakota pro-life law
• South Dakota man's death penalty case moves closer to execution
• South Dakota man's death penalty case to be heard by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals
• News: Eighth Circuit upholds SD abortion law, July 31, 2012

External links

• United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Links to Recently Filed 8th Circuit Briefs List Briefs filed in Last 14 days
• Judges of the Eighth Circuit
• Recent opinions from FindLaw

References

Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Chief: William Riley Judges: 11 Posts: 11 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Benton • Bye • Colloton • Gruender • Kelly • Murphy • Loken • Shepherd • Smith • Wollman Senior Judges Arnold • Beam • Bowman • Bright • Fagg • Gibson • Hansen • Magill • Melloy • Ross 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 Eighth Circuit has 11 posts and 0 vacancies. The current Chief Justice is William Riley. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Judge Lavenski Smith	10/31/1958	Hope, AR	W. Bush	7/15/2002 - Present			U. of Arkansas	U. of Arkansas
Judge Bobby Shepherd	1951	Hatton, ND	W. Bush	10/10/2006 - Present		Morris Arnold	Ouachita Baptist University '73	U. of Arkansas Law '75
Judge Roger Wollman	1934	Frankfort, SD	Reagan	7/22/1985 - Present	1999-2002		Tabor College '57	U. of South Dakota '62
Judge James Loken	1940	Madison, WI	H.W. Bush	9/10/1990 - Present	2003-2010	Gerald Heaney	U. of Wisconsin '62	Harvard Law '65
Judge Diana Murphy	1934	Faribault, MN	Clinton	10/11/1994 - Present		John Gibson	U. of Minnesota, B.A., 1954	U. of Minnesota Law School, J.D., 1974
Judge Kermit Bye	1937	Hatton, ND	Clinton	3/9/2000 - Present		Gerald Heaney	U. of North Dakota '59	U. of North Dakota '62
Chief Justice William Riley	1954	Lincoln, NE	W. Bush	5/23/2001 - Present	2010-Current	Arlen Beam	U. of Nebraska '69	Nebraska Law '72
Judge Steven Colloton	1963	Iowa city, IA	W. Bush	9/10/2003 - Present		David Hansen	Princeton '85	Yale Law '88
Judge Raymond Gruender	1963	St. Louis, MO	W. Bush	6/5/2004 - Present		Pasco Bowman	U. of St. Louis '84	U. of St. Louis '87
Judge William D. Benton	1950	Springfield, MO	W. Bush	7/2/2004 - Present		Theodore McMillian	Northwestern U. '72	Yale Law '75
Judge Jane Kelly	1964	Greencastle, IN	Obama	4/24/2013-Present		Michael Melloy	Duke U., B.A., 1987	Harvard Law, J.D., 1991

Pending appointments

There are no current pending appointments for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has 10 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 David Hansen	H.W. Bush	11/18/1991 - 4/1/2003	2002-2003	4/1/2003 - Present	Northwest Missouri State U. '60	George Washington U. Law '63
Senior Judge Morris Arnold	H.W. Bush	5/26/1992 - 10/9/2006	1992-1998	10/9/2006-Current	U. of Arkansas '65	U. of Arkansas '68
Senior Judge Myron Bright	L.B. Johnson	6/7/1968-6/1/1985		6/1/1985-present	U. of Minnesota '41	U. of Minnesota '47
Senior Judge(Inactive) John Gibson	Reagan	3/9/1982 - 1/1/1994		1/1/1994-Current	U. of Missouri '49	U. of Missouri Law '52
Senior Judge Pasco Bowman	Reagan	7/19/1983 - 8/1/2003	1998-1999	8/1/2003-Current	Bridgewater College '55	New York U. Law '58
Senior Judge Arlen Beam	Reagan	11/9/1987 - 2/1/2001		2/1/2001 - Present	U. of Nebraska, B.S., 1951	U. of Nebraska College of Law, J.D., 1965
Senior Judge Michael Melloy	W. Bush	2/14/2002 - 2/1/2013		2/1/2013 - Present	Loras College, B.A., 1970	U. of Iowa College of Law, J.D., 1974
Senior Judge (Inactive) George Fagg	Reagan	10/1/1982 - 5/1/1999		5/1/1999-Current	Drake U. '56	Drake U. '58
Senior Judge(Inactive) Donald Ross	Nixon	12/12/1970 - 6/13/1987		6/13/1987-Current		U. of Nebraska Law '48
Senior Judge (Inactive) Frank J. Magill	Reagan	3/4/1986 - 4/1/1997		4/1/1997-Current	Georgetown U. '51	Georgetown U. Law '55

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Martin Van Oosterhout	1968-1970
Pat Mehaffy	1973-1974
Marion Matthes	1970-1973
Donald Lay	1979-1992
Harvey Johnsen	1959-1965
Floyd Gibson	1974 - 1979
Charles Joseph Vogel	1965 - 1968
Archibald Gardner	1948-1959
Pasco Bowman	1998-1999
James Loken	2003-2010
Roger Wollman	1999-2002
Morris Arnold	1992-1998
David Hansen	2002-2003

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. Henry Clay Caldwell
2. Elmer Bragg Adams
3. John Emmett Carland
4. Amos Madden Thayer
5. Walter Henry Sanborn
6. William Cather Hook
7. John Hazelton Cotteral
8. Robert E. Lewis
9. Willis Van Devanter
10. Walter Inglewood Smith
11. Arba Seymour Van Valkenburgh
12. Wilbur Franklin Booth
13. Charles Breckenridge Faris
14. Kimbrough Stone
15. Joseph William Woodrough
16. William Squire Kenyon
17. John Benjamin Sanborn
18. John D. Kelly
19. Archibald Gardner
20. Seth Thomas
21. John Collet
22. Charles Joseph Vogel
23. Jesse Henley
24. Roy Stephenson
25. William Webster
26. Floyd Gibson
27. Albert Ridge
28. Charles Whittaker
29. Harvey Johnsen
30. Harry Blackmun
31. Gerald Heaney
32. Donald Lay
33. Marion Matthes
34. Theodore McMillian
35. Pat Mehaffy
36. Walter Riddick
37. Martin Van Oosterhout