United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

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• Judges

First Circuit Court of Appeals Chief: Sandra Lea Lynch Judges: 6 Posts: 6 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Boudin • Howard • Kayatta • Torruella • Thompson Senior Judges Campbell • Lipez • Selya • Stahl • Cyr 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 First Circuit, sometimes referred to as just the First Circuit, is a federal appellate court with appellate jurisdiction. The main court is located in Boston, MA with a branch in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There are currently 6 judges on the court, filling all of the potential posts. Cases can be appealed from the First Circuit to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Vacancy warning level

The current vacancy warning level for the First Circuit is set at green. The court currently has all six of its posts filled.

Jurisdiction

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

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

• District of Maine
• District of Massachusetts
• District of New Hampshire
• District of Puerto Rico
• District of Rhode Island

The court is based at the John Joseph Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts. The court normally meets in Boston, but for two weeks each year it assembles in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico and occasionally at other locations within the circuit.

Cases heard

The First 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

The first circuit began 2010 with a pending appeal case load of 1,464 cases. During the year, 1,530 appeals were filed and 1,706 appeals were terminated. There were an average of 156 written decisions per judge with the remainder of decisions being decided based on procedural or merit based terminations.

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	1464	1530	2994	1706	1288	965	647	94	1706	156
2009	1464	1746	3210	1750	1460	1049	635	66	1750	163
2008	1600	1631	3231	1776	1455	1020	705	51	1776	158
2007	1488	1863	3351	1752	1599	990	657	105	1752	164
2006	1643	1852	3495	2027	1468	1133	774	120	2027	165

*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 is Margaret Carter. The Clerk's Office is open for filing Monday-Friday from 8:30am to 5pm, excluding federal holidays. Emergency closings for snow will be announced on the clerks telephone line. The contact information for the office is as follows:

John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse
1 Courthouse Way, Suite 2500
Boston, MA 02210

Phone: (617) 748-9057
Records room: (617) 748-9567

History

Court history

Circuit Court for the First Circuit

Taken from: United States Circuit Court for the First Circuit (1801-1802)

Inception in 1801
The United States Circuit Court for the First Circuit was created by the Judiciary Act of 1801. Prior to this act, appeals were reviewed by a three-judge panel composed of two judges from the Supreme Court and the district court judge who had issued the decision being appealed. The Judiciary Act of 1801 divided the country into 6 distinct judicial circuits, each of which contained two-three judicial districts, to hear appeals from those district. It provided the first circuit with three new judges. , The act was repealed 13 months later when a new Congressional majority took power. They returned to the previous system, with slight modifications to lighten the travel load of the Supreme Court Justices.

Judges of the Court

• Benjamin Bourne (1801-1802)
• John A. Lowell (1801-1802)
• Jeremiah Smith (1801-1802)

Circuit Courts for the First Circuit

From 1802-1869 the original system dominated the appeals process with individual circuit courts established to hear appeals in each district. This system held until the Judiciary Act of 1869 which appointed an official judge to each of the nine circuits in existence. The process of Supreme Court justices traveling through the circuit fell to the wayside.

The Evarts Act in 1891 added a 4th tier to the federal judiciary, above the circuit courts by establishing courts of appeals in each circuit, reassigning the circuit court judges to the court of appeals. The Judicial Code of 1911 abolished the entire circuit court system establishing the existing three tiered judicial system that is in place today.

Judges of the Court

• George Foster Shepley (1869-1878)
• John Lowell (1878-1884)
• LeBaron Bradford Colt (1884-1891)

First Circuit Court of Appeals

Congress established the U.S. circuit courts of appeals for each of the nine judicial circuits in 1891. In 1905 an additional seat was added to the first circuit and in 1915 the District of Puerto Rico was added to the First Circuit. Additional judicial seats were added in 1978 and two more in 1984.

Judicial posts

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

Year	Statute	Total Seats
March 3, 1891	26 Stat. 826	2
January 21, 1905	33 Stat. 611	3
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	4
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	6

Notable cases

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

• Stolen gun liability case  Judge(s):Bruce Marshall Selya, Jeffrey R. Howard and O. Rogeriee Thompson      *Jones v. Secord 11-1576

On July 6, 2012, a three judge panel for the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the ruling of Judge Paul Barbadoro of the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire who held that a NH man could not be held liable for the use of his handgun in a violent crime. Gail Jones, the mother of a shooting victim, filed a lawsuit alleging that Lawrence Secord was liable for the use of his handgun by his grandson in an armed robbery that resulted in three fatalities in 2007. Secord's gun was stolen by his grandson, who broke into a locked summer cabin to obtain the firearm. Barbadoro agreed with Secord that he had taken proper precautions to secure his firearm. Judge Bruce Marshall Selya agreed, wroting the opinion of the panel consisting of Judges Jeffrey R. Howard and O. Rogeriee Thompson. He stated in the opinion, ""The record here, even when construed in the light most flattering to the plaintiff, does not show either a particularized risk of harm or a degree of foreseeability sufficient to animate this exception." Jones told the press she brought the lawsuit on to raise awareness of gun storage and risk, telling the press, "Firearms are very dangerous when they're in the wrong hands."

• Truth defense  Judge(s):Juan Torruella      *Alan S. Noonan v. Staples, Inc. No. 07-2159
On February 13, 2009, Judge Juan Torruella wrote the opinion in Noonan v. Staples, which holds that a finding of libel can be made by a court even when the a potentially libelous comment is true. Some legal analysts say this is the first federal court decision in the United States that goes against the precedent that truth is an absolute defense against libel.

• Edward and Elaine Brown criminal trial  Judge(s):O. Rogeriee Thompson      *United States of America V. Edward Brown and Elaine Brown No. 09-2402/10-1081

In 2007, Edward and Elaine Brown was both convicted of five years in prison for refusing to pay federal taxes. After the U.S. Marshals sent a letter encouraging them to surrender to the government, the Browns took part in a nine-month stand-off at their home with Marshals. Because they acted together, the criminal charges against the couple, a result of the stand-off, were combined. The couple was charged with: conspiring to prevent federal officers from discharging their duties, conspiring to assault, resist or impeded federal officers, using or carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, being a felon in possession of a firearm, obstruction of justice, and failing to appear at sentencing. This appeal, filed by the Browns, alleged that the District of Maine committed numerous errors in the first trial. The First Circuit disagreed with that allegation and instead affirmed the District's ruling.

Federal courthouse

The First Circuit is located in the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse in Boston MA. The Court House was designed by Henry Cobb, whose notable work includes Boston's John Hancock Tower and the new headquarters for the International Monetary Fund in Washington D.C.. Construction was finished in 1998. The building overlooks Boston Harbor, houses 27 courtrooms and is home to both the First Circuit and the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The dominant feature of the building is a 88-foot tall glass wall overlooking a park with views of downtown Boston and the Harbor. A calendar of public events at the Courthouse can be found at Moakley Courthouse Calendar. You can find directions to the court house on the official website, MoakleyCourthouse.com under the Contact tab.

See also

• United States court of appeals
• News: 1st Circuit upholds NH District Court gun liability ruling, July 12, 2012

External links

• United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
• Judges of the First Circuit
• Recent opinions from Findlaw
• History of the court
• John Joseph Moakley Courthouse Official Website

References

First Circuit Court of Appeals Chief: Sandra Lea Lynch Judges: 6 Posts: 6 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Boudin • Howard • Kayatta • Torruella • Thompson Senior Judges Campbell • Lipez • Selya • Stahl • Cyr Former Judges

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

With six active judges and three senior judges (out of four that are authorized), the First Circuit is the smallest of the thirteen United States courts of appeals.

Despite its small size, the First Circuit has two alumni—David Souter and Stephen Breyer—who have sat on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Active Judges

Article III judges

See: Article III federal judge

See: Article III federal judge
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has 6 posts and 0 vacancies. The current Chief Justice is Sandra Lea Lynch. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Judge Jeffrey R. Howard	November 5, 1955	Claremont, NH	W. Bush	5/3/2002 - Present		Norman Stahl	Plymouth State U. '78	Georgetown U. Law '81
Judge Michael Boudin	1939	New York, NY	H.W. Bush	5/26/1992 - Present	2001-2008	Levin Hicks Campbell	Harvard '61	Harvard Law '64
Judge Juan Torruella	1933	San Juan, PR	Reagan	10/4/1984 - Present	1994-2001	New Seat|98 Stat. 333	U. of Pennsylvania, B.S., 1954	Boston U. Law, J.D., 1957
Chief Judge Sandra Lea Lynch	1946	Oak Park, IL	Clinton	3/17/1995 - Present	6/16/2008 - Present	Stephen Breyer	Wellesley College '68	Boston U. Law '71
Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson	8/8/1951	Anderson, SC	Obama	3/17/2010 - Present		Bruce Marshall Selya	Brown U. '73	Boston U. Law '76
Judge William Kayatta	1953	South Portland, ME; Pawtucket, RI	Obama	2/13/2013 - Present		Kermit Lipez	Amherst College, B.A., 1976	Harvard Law, J.D., 1979

Pending appointments

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

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has 5 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 (Inactive) Conrad Cyr	H.W. Bush	11/20/1989 - 1/31/1997		1/31/1997 - Present	Holy Cross College, B.S., 1953	Yale Law, J.D., 1956
Senior judge Norman Stahl	H.W. Bush	6/30/1992 - 4/16/2001		4/16/2001 - Present	Tufts University '52	Harvard Law '55
Senior Judge Bruce Marshall Selya	Reagan	10/14/1986 - 12/31/2006		12/31/2006 - Present	Harvard '55	Harvard Law '58
Senior Judge Levin Hicks Campbell	Nixon	6/30/1972 - 1/3/1992	1983 - 1990	1/3/1992 - Present	Harvard College '48	Harvard Law '51
Senior Judge Kermit Lipez	Clinton	4/7/1998 - 12/31/2011		12/31/2011 - Present	Haverford College '63	Yale Law '67

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Peter Woodbury	1959-1964
Frank Coffin	1972-1983
Bailey Aldrich	1965-1972
Calvert Magruder	1948-1959
Juan Torruella	1994-2001
Michael Boudin	2001-2008
Levin Hicks Campbell	1983 - 1990
Stephen Breyer	1990 - 1994

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

Seat 1 Includes United States Circuit Courts for the First Circuit Judges pre-1891	Seat 2 Includes United States Circuit Courts for the First Circuit Judges pre-1891	Seat 3
Judge Term Aldrich 9/10/1959 - 8/31/1972 Magruder 6/3/1939 - 6/12/1959 Bingham 6/5/1913 - 3/23/1939 Colt 7/5/1884 - 2/7/1913 Shepley 12/22/1869 - 7/20/1878 Lowell 12/18/1878 - 5/1/1884 Boudin 5/26/1992 - Present Campbell 6/30/1972 - 1/3/1992	Judge Term [[Peter Woodbury|]] 2/25/1941 - 12/31/1964 McEntee 9/1/1965 - 12/31/1976 Wilson 10/2/1929 - 3/31/1940 Johnson 10/1/1917 - 4/30/1929 Putnam 3/17/1892 - 9/17/1917 Bownes 10/11/1977 - 1/1/1990 Howard 5/3/2002 - Present Stahl 6/30/1992 - 4/16/2001 Souter 1990-1990	Judge Term Kayatta 2/13/2013 - Present Coffin 10/2/1965 - 2/1/1989 Hartigan 1/3/1951 - 3/31/1965 Mahoney 2/12/1940 - 12/20/1950 Anderson 10/24/1918 - 9/30/1931 Schofield 6/6/1911 - 6/10/1912 Morton 1/9/1932 - 9/30/1939 Dodge 7/23/1912 - 6/30/1918 Lowell 2/23/1905 - 3/6/1911 Lipez 4/7/1998 - 12/31/2011 Cyr 11/20/1989 - 1/31/1997
Seat 4	Seat 5	Seat 6
Judge Term Lynch 3/17/1995 - Present Breyer 1980-1994	Judge Term Torruella 10/4/1984 - Present	Judge Term Thompson 3/17/2010 - Present Selya 10/14/1986 - 12/31/2006

Circuit Court for the First Circuit

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit began as the United States Circuit Court for the First Circuit in 1801. The court lasted for two years and was abolished after a change in the legislative majority passed the Judiciary Act of 1802. The following judges served on the court:

Seat 1P	Seat 2P	Seat 3P
Judge Term Lowell 2/20/1801 - 5/6/1802	Judge Term Bourne 2/20/1801 - 7/1/1802	Judge Term Smith 2/20/1801 - 5/6/1802