United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:

The court is based at the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. U.S. Courthouse in Richmond, Virginia. With fifteen authorized judgeships (currently there are 10 active judges, two senior judges who continue to hear cases part-time, and two retired judges who no longer hear cases) it is midsized among the thirteen United States courts of appeals.

Current composition of the court

As of July 17, 2007, the judges on the court are:

^(a) Recess appointment by Bill Clinton, re-appointed by George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate at a later date.

Pending nominations

On July 17, 2007, President George W. Bush nominated Robert J. Conrad, to Seat 7 vacated by James Dickson Phillips, Jr..
On September 6, 2007, President Bush nominated Steve A. Matthews to Seat 11 vacated by William Walter Wilkins.
On November 15, 2007, President Bush nominated Rod J. Rosenstein to Seat 8 vacated by Francis Dominic Murnaghan, Jr..
On March 13, 2008, President Bush nominated G. Steven Agee to Seat 13 vacated by J. Michael Luttig.

List of former judges

Chief judges

Succession of seats

Trivia

The Fourth Circuit has never seen one of its judges promoted to the Supreme Court of the United States. Judges Wilkinson and Luttig were long considered to be front-runners for a justiceship if a vacancy arose during the George W. Bush presidential administration, but Bush did not appoint either of them to the two vacancies that arose in 2005. Luttig has since resigned from the bench.
Since the days of John Marshall, the Chief Justice of the United States has been the Circuit Justice for the Fourth Circuit.
The Fourth Circuit's Courthouse in Richmond, Virginia housed the treasury of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, and Jefferson Davis's office was located in the building. After the war, Davis was arraigned in the building, although he was never tried.
The Fourth is widely regarded as the most ideologically conservative court in the federal appellate system. It is also the most efficient circuit, taking an average of just over seven months to resolve each appeal.
The Fourth Circuit is considered an extremely collegial court. By tradition, the Judges of the Fourth Circuit come down from the bench following each oral argument to greet the lawyers.

Notes

References

source for the phone numbers for the duty stations
indicates which senior judges are inactive

ties duty station phone numbers to duty stations (incomplete coverage)

Obituaries: John Decker Butzner Jr.. Website of the Charlottesville Daily Progress. .

source for Butzner's death

source for the duty stations (incomplete coverage)

source for the state, lifetime, term of active judgeship, term of chief judgeship, term of senior judgeship, appointer, termination reason, and seat information

External links

Navigation

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 18:44:07 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation