United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

• Court
• Judges

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Chief: Edith Jones Judges: 15 Posts: 17 Vacancies: 2 Active judges Clement • Davis • Dennis • Elrod • Graves • Haynes • Higginson • Jolly • King • Owen • Prado • Smith • Southwick • Stewart Senior Judges Barksdale • Benavides • DeMoss • Duhe • Garza • Higginbotham • Reavley • Wiener 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 Fifth Circuit is a federal appellate court.

Vacancy warning level

Currently the vacancy warning level for the Fifth Circuit is set at yellow. The court currently has two vacancies out of its seventeen total seats.

Jurisdiction

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

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:

• Eastern District of Louisiana
• Middle District of Louisiana
• Western District of Louisiana
• Northern District of Mississippi
• Southern District of Mississippi
• Eastern District of Texas
• Northern District of Texas
• Southern District of Texas
• Western District of Texas

The court is composed of seventeen active judges and is based at the John Minor Wisdom U.S. Courthouse in New Orleans. It is one of thirteen United States courts of appeal.

Cases heard

The Fifth 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	4929	7462	12391	7624	4767	3773	3729	122	7624	198
2009	5051	7246	12297	7355	4942	3589	3643	123	7355	176
2008	5470	7667	13137	8086	5051	4121	3863	102	8086	217
2007	6999	8055	15054	9578	5476	4977	4448	153	9578	289
2006	6406	9479	15885	8881	7004	4688	4087	106	8881	272

*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 Lyle W. Cayce. The Chief Deputy Clerk is Thomas Plunkett. "The office is open for business from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The court is always open to accept pleadings. The office is staffed on all days except Saturdays, Sundays, designated federal holidays, and Mardi Gras. A limited staff is on duty in the clerk’s office for four federal holidays (Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, Washington’s Birthday, Columbus Day, and Veterans’ Day), but the office is not staffed on all other federal holidays."

Patricia S. Connor, Clerk
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
600 S. Maestri Place
New Orleans, LA 70130-3408
(504) 310-7700

History

Court history

The Fifth Circuit played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement, hearing many of the most controversial and pivotal cases. A 1964 Time Magazine article on the Fifth Circuit titled "The Fascinating & Frenetic Fifth" said this about the Court:

Apart from the Supreme Court, the most fascinating bench in the U.S. is the Deep South's Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals — the trail-blazing intermediate court that handles most of the nation's civil rights cases by hearing appeals from district courts in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. "Without the Fifth Circuit," says a leading civil rights lawyer, "we would be on the verge of actual war fare in the South."

Judicial posts

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the Fifth Circuit. The table displays the statute that authorized an increase in judgeships, the year the statute was passed, and the number of judges authorized for the court in the statute.

Year	Statute	Total Seats
March 3, 1891	26 Stat. 826	2
January 25, 1899	30 Stat. 803	3
June 10, 1930	46 Stat. 538	4
May 31, 1938	52 Stat. 584	5
December 14, 1942	56 Stat. 1050	6
February 10, 1954	68 Stat. 8	7
May 19, 1961	75 Stat. 80	9
March 18, 1966	80 Stat. 75	13
June 18, 1968	82 Stat. 184	15
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	26
October 14, 1980	94 Stat. 1994*	14*
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	16
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	17

• "The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Reorganization Act divided the Fifth Circuit into two circuits, reorganizing the judicial districts of Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and the Canal Zone as a new Fifth Circuit and Alabama, Georgia, and Florida as the Eleventh Circuit. The act transferred all judges whose official duty stations were located within the Eleventh Circuit to the court of appeals for that circuit. Of the twenty-six judgeships authorized for the former Fifth Circuit, fourteen were assigned to the new Fifth Circuit and twelve to the Eleventh Circuit."

Notable cases

Fifth Circuit rules on Texas Open Meetings Law      *Rangra v. Brown No. 06-51587

Judge James Dennis wrote the opinion in the case Avinash Rangra; Anna Monclova v. Frank D. Brown, concerning the application of First Amendment rights within the context of the Texas Open Meetings law. The case was appealed from the Western District of Texas, where it was ruled that "the First Amendment affords absolutely no protection to speech by elected officials made pursuant to their official duties". Dennis, along with Judges Jacques Wiener, Jr. and Rhesa Barksdale disagreed, and sent the case back to the trial court for review. They suggested that the "trial court had not properly considered whether the statute was constitutional". Update In September 2012, the case again made its way to the Fifth Circuit, where Judges Emilio Garza, Jerry Smith and Leslie Southwick upheld the Texas Open Meetings Law. The court found that it did not abridge the free speech of city officials. To read that opinion, see United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Asgeirsson et al v. Texas Attorney General, September 28, 2012.

• Clipper Estates case  Judge(s):Thomas Reavley, Edward Prado, Priscilla Owen      *Joffroin v. Tufaro 606 F. 3d 235

Judge Martin Feldman of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana dismissed a lawsuit filed by fifty people who live in Clipper Estates in suburban New Orleans under allegations of violations of the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The residents sued on allegations that the owner of Clipper Estates - also the President of the New Orleans Home Builders Association - used money he assessed against them after Hurricane Katrina for personal purposes instead of improving the subdivision as he promised. Feldman dismissed the lawsuit claiming the plaintiffs had no standing under RICO. The case was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, where judges Thomas Reavley, Edward Prado, and Priscilla Owen affirmed Feldman's decision. It was determined that the plaintiffs in the case did not have standing after applying the three-part test from Whalen v. Carter, 954 F.2d 1087, 1093 (5th Cir.1992).

Federal courthouse

The Fifth Circuit is located in the John Minor Wisdom U.S. Court of Appeals Building in New Orleans, LA. The original building was constructed in 1908 and then served as both the Post Office and Courthouse. In 1961 the Post Office moved due to lack of space. In 1963 the courts left as well and the building remained vacant until 1965 when it "served as a public high school for three years after Hurricane Betsy destroyed McDonough 35 High School." After undergoing extensive renovations the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals returned to building in 1972. In 1974 the building was placed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The building was renamed in honor of John Minor Wisdom in 1994. Wisdom was "a respected judge who served on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals from 1957 until his death in 1999. Wisdom strongly promoted civil rights and issued landmark decisions that supported school desegregation and voter rights." A 1964 Time Magazine article on the Fifth Circuit titled "The Fascinating & Frenetic Fifth" gave this profile of Wisdom:

John Minor Wisdom, 59, a New Orleans aristocrat, topflight corporation lawyer and former G.O.P. national committeeman. Another Ike appointee (1957), Wisdom is probably the court's top constitutional scholar; he is equally at home in archaeology, Greek tragedy and Louisiana civil law. Wisdom is one of the best (and most painstaking) opinion writers on any U.S. bench.

See also

• United States court of appeals

External links

• Website of the Fifth Circuit
• Judges of the Fifth Circuit
• Opinions of the Fifth Circuit
• Fifth Circuit blog

References

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Chief: Edith Jones Judges: 15 Posts: 17 Vacancies: 2 Active judges Clement • Davis • Dennis • Elrod • Graves • Haynes • Higginson • Jolly • King • Owen • Prado • Smith • Southwick • Stewart Senior Judges Barksdale • Benavides • DeMoss • Duhe • Garza • Higginbotham • Reavley • Wiener 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 Fifth Circuit has 17 posts and 2 vacancies. The current Chief Justice is Carl Stewart. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Judge James Dennis	1936	Louisiana	Clinton	10/02/1985 - Current		Charles Clark	Louisiana Tech University, 1959	Louisiana State University Law School, 1962
Judge James Graves	1953	Hinds County, MS	Obama	2/14/2011- Present		Rhesa Barksdale	Millsaps College, B.A., 1975	Syracuse U. Law, J.D., 1980
Chief Judge Carl Stewart	1950	Louisiana	Clinton	05/09/1994 - Present	10/1/2012 - Present		Dillard University, 1971	Loyola University New Orleans School of Law, 1974
Judge Edith Jones	1949	Philadelphia, PA	Reagan	04/04/1985 - Present	1/16/2006 - 9/30/2012		Cornell University, 1971	University of Texas Law School, 1974
Judge Carolyn King	1938	New York	Carter	07/13/1979 - Present	1999-2006		Smith College, 1959	Yale Law School, 1962
Judge Leslie Southwick	1950	Texas	W. Bush	10/29/2007 - Current		Charles Pickering	Rice University, 1972	University of Texas School of Law, 1975
Judge Priscilla Owen	1954	Texas	W. Bush	06/03/2005 - Current		William Garwood	Baylor University, 1975	Baylor University School of Law, 1977
Judge Jennifer Elrod	1966	Texas	W. Bush	10/19/2007 - Current		Patrick E. Higginbotham	Baylor University, 1988	Harvard Law School, 1992
Judge Catharina Haynes	1963	Florida	W. Bush	04/18/2008 - Current		Harold DeMoss	Florida Institue of Technology, 1983	Emory University School of Law, 1986
Judge Edith Clement	1948	Birmingham, AL	W. Bush	11/25/1991 - Present		John Duhe, Jr.	University of Alabama, 1969	Tulane Law School, 1972
Judge Edward Prado	1947	Texas	W. Bush	05/05/2003 - Current		Robert Parker	University of Texas, 1969	University of Texas School of Law, 1972
Judge Jerry Smith	1946	Texas	Reagan	12/21/1987 - Current			Yale University, 1969	Yale Law School, 1972
Judge Eugene Davis	1936	Winfield, AL	Reagan	11/16/1983 - Current		Robert Ainsworth		Tulane Law School, 1960
Judge Grady Jolly	1937	Mississippi	Reagan	07/30/1992 - Current		James Coleman	University of Mississippi, 1959	University of Mississippi School of Law, 1962
Judge Stephen Higginson	1961	Boston, MA	Obama	10/31/2011 - Present		Jacques Wiener	Harvard, A.B., 1983	Yale Law, J.D., 1987

Pending appointments

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

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has 8 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 Thomas Reavley	Carter	07/13/1979 - 07/31/1990		08/01/1990 - Present	University of Texas, 1942	Harvard Law Schoo, 1948
Senior Judge Patrick Higginbotham	Reagan	07/30/1982 - 08/27/2006		08/28/2006 - Present	University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, 1960	University of Alabama School of Law, 1961
Senior Judge John Duhe	Reagan	10/17/1988 - 04/06/1999		04/07/1999 - Present	Tulane University, 1955	Tulane University Law School, 1957
Senior Judge Harold DeMoss	H.W. Bush	12/02/1991 - 06/30/2007		07/01/2007 - Present	Rice, 1952	University of Texas School of Law, 1955
Senior Judge Fortunato Benavides	Clinton	05/09/1994 - 2/3/2012		2/3/2012 - Present	University of Houston, 1968	University of Houston Law Center, 1972
Senior Judge Emilio Garza	H.W. Bush	05/30/1991 - 8/1/2012		8/1/2012 - Present	University of Notre Dame, 1969	University of Texas School of Law, 1976
Senior Judge Jacques Wiener	H.W. Bush	03/12/1990 - 09/29/2010		09/30/2010 - Present	Tulane University, 1956	Tulane Law School, 1961
Senior Judge Rhesa Barksdale	H.W. Bush	03/12/1990 - 08/08/2009		08/08/2009 - Present	U.S. Military Academy, West Point, 1996	University of Mississippi Law School, 1972

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Charles Clark	1981 to 1992
James Coleman	1979 to 1981
John Brown	1967-1979
Joseph Chappell Hutcheson	1967-1979
Henry Politz	1992 to 1999
Carolyn King	1999-2006
Richard Rives	1959 to 1960
Elbert Tuttle	1960 to 1967
John Godbold	1981

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. John Minor Wisdom
2. Edward Harris
3. Peter Fay
4. John Godbold
5. Robert Lanier Anderson
6. Phyllis Kravitch
7. Gerald Tjoflat
8. Joseph Hatchett
9. Albert Henderson
10. Paul Roney
11. David Dyer
12. Elbert Tuttle
13. Thomas Clark
14. Richard Rives
15. Robert Vance
16. Lewis Morgan
17. James Hill
18. Andrew Phelps McCormick
19. Don Albert Pardee
20. Robert Hill
21. Alvin Rubin
22. Henry Politz
23. Reynaldo Garza
24. Albert Tate, Jr.
25. Jerre Williams
26. Robert Parker
27. Charles Pickering
28. David Davie Shelby
29. Rufus Edward Foster
30. Robert Lynn Batts
31. Nathan Philemon Bryan
32. Edwin Ruthven Holmes
33. Joseph Chappell Hutcheson
34. Alexander Campbell King
35. Samuel Hale Sibley
36. Claude Feemster Clayton
37. Richard Wilde Walker
38. Wayne Borah
39. Louie Willard Strum
40. Irving Goldberg
41. Leon McCord
42. Warren Leroy Jones
43. Robert Ainsworth
44. Joe Ingraham
45. William Thornberry
46. George Carswell
47. Curtis Waller
48. Griffin Bell
49. John Brown
50. Benjamin Cameron
51. James Coleman
52. Thomas Gee
53. Walter Gewin
54. Samuel Johnson
55. Elmo Lee
56. John Bryan Simpson
57. Frank M. Johnson, Jr.
58. Charles Clark
59. Robert Lee Russell