United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

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Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Chief: Mary Briscoe Judges: 10 Posts: 12 Vacancies: 2 Active judges Gorsuch • Hartz • Holmes • Kelly • Lucero • Matheson • Murphy • O'Brien • Tymkovich Senior Judges Anderson • Baldock • Brorby • Holloway • McConnell • McKay • McWilliams • Porfilio • Seymour • Tacha 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 Tenth Circuit, sometimes referred to simply as the Tenth Circuit, is one of the thirteen federal appellate courts. The court was established in 1929 with the Tenth Circuit Reorganization Act and currently has a total of fifteen seats. The court is located at the Byron White U.S. Courthouse in Denver.

Vacancy warning level

Currently the vacancy warning level for the Tenth Circuit is set at yellow. The court currently has two vacancies out of their twelve total seats, constituting 17% of the total seats. There are no pending appointments.

Jurisdiction

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

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

• District of Colorado
• District of Kansas
• District of New Mexico
• Eastern District of Oklahoma
• Northern District of Oklahoma
• Western District of Oklahoma
• District of Utah
• District of Wyoming

These districts were part of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit until 1929, when the Reorganization Act of 1929 was enacted by the U.S. Congress.

The court is composed of twelve active judges and is based at the Byron White U.S. Courthouse in Denver. It is one of thirteen United States courts of appeals.

Cases heard

The Tenth 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	1652	2270	3922	2448	1474	1353	1028	67	2448	83
2009	1698	2328	4026	2376	1650	1431	898	47	2376	85
2008	1839	2226	4065	2385	1680	1473	870	42	2385	89
2007	2109	2407	4516	2680	1836	1597	1038	45	2680	94
2006	2367	2742	5109	3018	2091	1730	1233	55	3018	117

*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 mission statement of the Tenth Circuit clerk's office states:

"The Clerk's Office of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ensures equal justice is served by maintaining a timely and accurate docket, effectively managing caseloads and court expenses, sharing knowledge of court rules and procedures and disseminating information to the court and all the participants in the legal process."

The Office is open for filing from 8am to 5pm Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays.

Byron White U.S. Courthouse
1823 Stout Street
Denver, CO 80257
303-844-3157

History

Court history

This federal judiciary article needs to be expanded.

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The Tenth Circuit was established on February 28, 1929 under 45 Stat. 1346 which broke the then Eighth Circuit up into the Eighth Circuit and the Tenth Circuit. All of the judges resided in the newly created Tenth Circuit were transferred to the new appellate court. Over time, eight additional seats were added to the circuit, resulting in a total of twelve seats. The courts current jurisdiction contains 560,625 square miles or roughly 20% of the total U.S. landmass. For a full history of the Tenth Circuit, please see the Tenth Judicial Circuit Historical Society's Official Website.

Judicial posts

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

Year	Statute	Total Seats
February 28, 1929	45 Stat. 1346	4
August 3, 1949	63 Stat. 493	5
May 19, 1961	75 Stat. 80	6
June 18, 1968	82 Stat. 184	7
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	8
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	10
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	12

Notable decisions

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

• Oklahoma Sharia Law temporary injunction  Judge(s):Terrence O'Brien, Scott Matheson and Monroe McKay      *Awad v. Ziriax, et al 10-6273

On January 10, 2012, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals released an anticipated ruling. The decision by the panel of Judges Terrence O'Brien, Scott Matheson and Monroe McKay, upheld a previous ruling by Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange, out of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, that said Oklahoma's "Sharia Law" ballot measure was unconstitutional. Supported by 70% of the state's population in 2010, the amendment prohibited courts in the state from considering international or Sharia law in deciding cases. The Tenth Circuit Court disagreed with the supporters of the amendment, who insisted that the measure was intended to disallow courts from considering any religious law in their proceedings. As a response, the opinion states, "That argument conflicts with the amendment's plain language, which mentions sharia law in two places." Because the amendment was thought to discriminate against a specific religion, in this case, Islam, strict scrutiny was applied to judging its contents. Courts often utilize a higher level of scrutiny when it is concerned a minority is being unfairly treated.

Federal courthouse

This federal judiciary article needs to be expanded.

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The Tenth Circuit is located in the Byron White U.S. Courthouse in Denver. The courthouse was built between 1910 and 1916 replacing a previous building. The exterior of the building uses local Colorado Yule marble, the same material used on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Originally the building held all of the federal agencies located in Denver. Over time, as the federal agencies grew, the building came to be occupied by only the Post Office. The building was expanded and renovated in 1994 to rehouse the federal courthouse with the current value of the building estimated at $200 million.

See also

• Tenth Circuit Reorganization Act of 1929
• United States court of appeals
• News: Federal 10th Circuit upholds lower court lower court Sharia ruling, January 11, 2012

External links

• United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
• Judges of the Tenth Circuit
• Recent opinions from FindLaw
• Historical Opinons Database for the Tenth Circuit Searches opinions from 1995 to today.
• Tenth Circuit blog

References

Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Chief: Mary Briscoe Judges: 10 Posts: 12 Vacancies: 2 Active judges Gorsuch • Hartz • Holmes • Kelly • Lucero • Matheson • Murphy • O'Brien • Tymkovich Senior Judges Anderson • Baldock • Brorby • Holloway • McConnell • McKay • McWilliams • Porfilio • Seymour • Tacha 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 Tenth Circuit has 12 posts and 2 vacancies. The current Chief Justice is Mary Briscoe. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Judge Jerome Holmes	1961	Washington D.C.	W. Bush	8/9/2006 - Present		Stephanie Seymour	Wake Forest U., B.A., 1983	Georgetown U. Law, J.D., 1988
Judge Neil Gorsuch	1967	Denver, CO	W. Bush	8/8/2006 - Present		David Ebel	Columbia U. '88	Harvard Law '91
Judge Timothy Tymkovich	1956	Denver, CO	W. Bush	4/1/2003 - Present		John Porfilio	Colorado College '79	U. of Colorado Law '82
Judge Harris Hartz	1947	Baltimore, MD	W. Bush	12/10/2001 - Present		Bobby Baldock	Harvard '67	Harvard Law '72
Judge Carlos Lucero		Antonio, CO	Clinton	6/30/1995 - Present			Adams State College '61	George Washington U. Law '64
Chief Judge Mary Briscoe		Council Grove, KS	Clinton	5/26/1995 - Present	2010-Current	James Logan	U. of Kansas '69	U. of Kansas Law '73
Judge Paul Kelly		NM	H.W. Bush	4/13/1992 - Present			Notre Dame '63	Fordham Law '67
Judge Robert Bacharach	1959	Clarksdale, MI	Obama	2/25/2013 - Present			U. of Oklahoma, B.A., 1981	Washington U. Law, J.D., 1985
Judge Scott Matheson			Obama	12/22/2010 - Present		Michael McConnell	Stanford U. '75	Yale Law '80

Pending appointments

The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has 1 appointee pending and 2 vacancies. This is a list of the current pending appointees to the court:

Judge	Confirmation	Bachelors	Law
Gregory Alan Phillips		U. of Wyoming, B.A., 1983	U. of Wyoming Law, J.D., 1987

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth 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 Terrence O'Brien	W. Bush	4/16/2002 - 4/30/2013		4/30/2013 - Present	U. of Wyoming '65	U. of Wyoming Law '72
Senior Judge Michael R. Murphy	Clinton	8/14/1995 - 12/31/2012		12/31/2012 - Present	Creighton U. '69	U. of Wyoming '72
Senior Judge David Ebel		04/20/1988 - 01/15/2006		01/16/2006 - Present	Northwestern U., B.A., 1962	U. of Michigan Law, J.D., 1965
Senior Judge Wade Brorby	Reagan	2/17/1988 - 5/25/2001		5/25/2001 - Present	U. of Wyoming '56	U. of Wyoming Law '58
Senior Judge Bobby Baldock	Reagan	12/17/1985 - 1/26/2001		1/26/2001 - Present	New Mexico Military Institute '56	U. of Arizona Law '60
Senior Judge Deanell Tacha	Reagan	12/16/1985 - 1/27/2011	2001-2007	1/27/2011 - Present	U. of Kansas '68	U. of Michigan Law '71
Senior Judge Stephen Anderson	Reagan	10/16/1985 - 1/1/2000		1/1/2000 - Present		U. of Utah Law '60
Senior Judge John Porfilio	Reagan	5/10/1985 - 10/15/1999		10/15/1999 - Present	Denver U. '56	U. of Denver Law '59
Senior Judge Stephanie Seymour	Carter	11/2/1979 - 10/16/2005	1994-2000	10/16/2005 - Present	Smith College '62	Harvard Law '65
Senior Judge Monroe McKay	Carter	12/1/1977 - 12/31/1993	1991-1993	12/31/1993 - Present	Brigham Young U. '57	U. of Chicago Law '60
Senior Judge William Holloway	L.B. Johnson	9/16/1968 - 5/31/1992	1984-1991	5/31/1992 - Present	U. of Oklahoma '47	Harvard Law '50

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Oliver Seth	1977-1984
David Thomas Lewis	1970-1977
Alfred Murrah	1959-1970
Sam Gilbert Bratton	1956-1959
Orie Leon Phillips	1948-1956
William Holloway	1984-1991
Monroe McKay	1991-1993
Stephanie Seymour	1994-2000
Deanell Tacha	2001-2007
Robert Henry	2008-2010

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

1. William E. Doyle
2. Robert Henry
3. Michael McConnell
4. Robert McWilliams
5. James Barrett
6. John Hazelton Cotteral
7. Robert E. Lewis
8. Robert Williams
9. Orie Leon Phillips
10. George Thomas McDermott
11. Sam Gilbert Bratton
12. Alfred Murrah
13. Walter Huxman
14. David Thomas Lewis
15. Jean Breitenstein
16. Delmas Hill
17. John Hickey
18. James Logan
19. John Pickett
20. Oliver Seth