United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Share this Court:

Third Circuit Court of Appeals Chief: Theodore McKee Judges: 13 Posts: 14 Vacancies: 1 Active judges Ambro • Chagares • Fisher • Fuentes • Greenaway • Hardiman • Jordan • Rendell • Scirica • Sloviter • Smith • Vanskie Senior Judges Aldisert • Barry • Cowen • Garth • Greenberg • Nygaard • Roth • Stapleton • Van Antwerpen • Weis Former Judges

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

Contents
1 Court
1.1 Vacancy warning level
1.2 Jurisdiction
1.2.1 Cases heard
1.2.2 Case load
1.3 Clerk's office
1.4 History
1.4.1 Court history
1.4.2 Judicial posts
1.4.3 Notable decisions
1.4.4 Federal courthouse
1.5 See also
1.6 External links
1.7 References
2 Judges

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is one of the thirteen federal appellate courts. The court was established in 1891 and currently has a total of fourteen seats. The Third Circuit shares the James A. Byrne Federal Courthouse with the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Vacancy warning level

The current vacancy warning level for the Third Circuit is set at green. All of the current posts are filled with active judges and there are no pending retirements or transitions to senior status.

Jurisdiction

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court for the following United States federal judicial districts:

• District of Delaware
• District of New Jersey
• Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• Middle District of Pennsylvania
• Western District of Pennsylvania

It also has appellate jurisdiction over the United States District Court for the U.S. Virgin Islands which, in spite of the name, is a territorial court and belongs to no federal judicial district.

The court is based out of Philadelphia.

Cases heard

The Third 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	3400	3951	7351	4235	3116	2483	1684	68	4235	153
2009	3771	3750	7521	3997	3524	2333	1635	29	3997	143
2008	3699	4054	7753	3990	3763	2300	1652	38	3990	149
2007	3837	3924	7761	4066	3695	2251	1770	45	4066	136
2006	3480	4503	7983	4157	3826	2305	1825	27	4157	152

*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 Marcia M. Waldron. The Clerk's Office is open for filing Monday-Friday from 9am to 4pm, excluding federal holidays. The contact information for the office is as follows:

OFFICE OF THE CLERK
21400 U.S. COURTHOUSE
601 MARKET STREET
PHILADELPHIA, PA 19106

ecf_helpdesk@ca3.uscourts.gov
Phone: 267-299-4970
Records room: 215-597-2995

History

Court history

This federal judiciary article needs to be expanded.

---

The Third Circuit was established by the United States Congress in 1981 through the same statute that established the first nine appeals circuits. Over the years, twelve additional seats were added to the court resulting in a total of fourteen seats.^[1]

Judicial posts

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

Year	Statute	Total Seats
March 3, 1891	26 Stat. 826	2
February 23, 1899	30 Stat. 846	3
June 10, 1930	46 Stat. 538	4
June 24, 1936	49 Stat. 1903	5
December 7, 1944	58 Stat. 796	6
August 3, 1949	63 Stat. 493	7
May 19, 1961	75 Stat. 80	8
June 18, 1968	82 Stat. 184	9
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	10
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	12
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	14

^[2]

Notable decisions

• Lee v. Minner

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

Federal courthouse

This federal judiciary article needs to be expanded.

---

The Third Circuit shares the James A. Byrne Federal Courthouse with the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

See also

• United States court of appeals

External links

• Official Website of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals
• List of Third Circuit Judges
• Opinions of the Third Circuit

References

Share this Court:

Third Circuit Court of Appeals Chief: Theodore McKee Judges: 13 Posts: 14 Vacancies: 1 Active judges Ambro • Chagares • Fisher • Fuentes • Greenaway • Hardiman • Jordan • Rendell • Scirica • Sloviter • Smith • Vanskie Senior Judges Aldisert • Barry • Cowen • Garth • Greenberg • Nygaard • Roth • Stapleton • Van Antwerpen • Weis Former Judges

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

Contents
1 Courts
2 Judges
2.1 Number of allowed judges
2.2 Active judges
2.2.1 Article III judges
2.2.2 Pending appointments
2.2.3 Senior judges
2.3 Past judges
2.3.1 Former chief judges
2.3.2 Former judges

Number of allowed judges

Active judges

Article III judges

See: Article III federal judge
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has 14 posts and 1 vacancy. The current Chief Justice is Theodore McKee. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Judge Joseph Greenaway		England	Obama	2/9/2010 - Current		Samuel Alito	Columbia '78	Harvard Law '81
Judge Thomas Vanaskie	1953	Shamokin, PA	Obama	4/21/2010 - Current		Franklin Van Antwerpen	Lycoming College '75	Dickinson School of Law '78
Judge Anthony Scirica	1940	Norristown, PA	Reagan	8/6/1987 - Current	2003-2010	Ruggero Aldisert	Wesleyan U. '62	U. of Michigan Law '65
Judge Dolores Sloviter	1932	Philadelphia, PA	Carter	6/21/1979 - Current	1991-1998	Walter Stapleton	Temple U. '53	U. Pennsylvania Law '56
Chief Judge Theodore McKee	1947		Clinton	6/9/1994 - Current	2010 - Current	Leon Higginbotham, Jr.	SUNY Cortland '69	Syracuse Law '75
Judge Marjorie Rendell	1947	Wilmington, DE	Clinton	9/29/1997 - Current		William Hutchinson	U. of Pennsylvania '69	Villanova U. '73
Judge Thomas Ambro	1949	Cambridge, OH	Clinton	2/16/2000 - Current		Walter Stapleton	Georgetown '71	Georgetown Law '75
Judge Julio Fuentes	1946	Humacao, PR	Clinton	3/9/2000 - Current		Robert Cowen	Southern Illinois U. '71	SUNY Buffalo Law '75
Judge Brooks Smith	1951	Altoona, PA	W. Bush	8/2/2002 - Current		Timothy Lewis	Franklin and Marshall College '73	Dickinson School of Law '76
Judge Michael Fisher	1944	Pittsburgh, PA	W. Bush	12/11/2003 - Current		Carol Mansmann	Georgetown '66	Georgetown Law '69
Judge Michael Chagares	1962		W. Bush	4/20/2006 - Current		Michael Chertoff	Gettysburg College '84	Seton Hall Law '87
Judge Kent Jordan	1957	West Point, NY	W. Bush	12/13/2006 - Current		Jane Roth	Brigham Young U. '81	Georgetown Law '84
Judge Thomas Hardiman	1965	Winchester, MA	W. Bush	4/2/2007 - Current		Richard Nygaard	Notre Dame '87	Georgetown Law '90

Pending appointments

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has 1 appointee pending and 1 vacancy. This is a list of the current pending appointees to the court:

Judge	Confirmation	Bachelors	Law
Patty Shwartz	Appointed 10/5/2011	Rutgers College, B.A., 1983	U. of Pennsylvania Law, J.D., 1986

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has 9 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 Leonard Garth	Nixon	8/6/1973 - 6/30/1986		6/30/1986 - Current	Columbia U. '42	Harvard Law '52
Senior Judge Joseph Weis	L.B. Johnson	4/15/1973 - 4/1/1988		4/1/1988 - Current	Duquesne U. '47	U. of Pittsburgh Law '50
Senior Judge Walter Stapleton	Reagan	4/4/1985 - 6/2/1999		6/2/1999 - Current	Princeton '56	Harvard Law '59
Senior Judge Morton Greenberg	Reagan	3/23/1987 - 6/30/2000		6/30/2000 - Current	U. of Pennsylvania '54	Yale Law '57
Senior Judge Robert Cowen	Reagan	11/9/1987 - 9/4/1998		9/4/1998 - Current	Drake U. '52	Rutgers U. Law '58
Senior Judge Jane Roth	H.W. Bush	7/2/1991 - 5/31/2006		5/31/2006 - Current	Smith College '56	Harvard Law '65
Senior Judge Franklin Van Antwerpen	W. Bush	5/24/2004 - 10/23/2006		10/23/2006 - Current	U. of Maine '64	Temple U. Law '67
Senior Judge Richard Nygaard	Reagan	10/17/1988 - 7/9/2005		7/9/2005 - Current	U. of Southern California '69	U. of Michigan Law '71
Senior Judge Ruggero Aldisert	L.B. Johnson	7/29/1968 - 12/31/1986	1984-1986	12/31/1986 - Current	U. of Pittsburgh '41	U. of Pittsburgh Law '47
Senior judge Maryanne Barry	Clinton	9/22/1999 - 6/30/2011		6/30/2011 - Current	Mount Holyoke College '62	Hofstra U. Law '74

Past judges

Former chief judges

Judge	Term
Austin Staley	1966-1967
Collins Seitz	1971-1984
William Hastie	1968-1971
John Gibbons	1987-1990
Aloysius Higginbotham	1990 - 1991
Edward Becker	1998-2003
John Biggs	1948-1965
Harry Kalodner	1965-1966
Dolores Sloviter	1991-1998
Ruggero Aldisert	1984-1986
Anthony Scirica	2003-2010

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