United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

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The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:

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

History of the court

This court was created by the Evarts Act on June 16, 1891, which moved the circuit judges and appellate jurisdiction from the Circuit Courts of the Fifth Circuit to this court. At the time of its creation, the Fifth Circuit covered Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.

On June 25, 1948, the Panama Canal Zone was added to the Fifth Circuit by 62 Stat. 870.

On October 1, 1981, under Public Law 96-452, the Fifth Circuit was split: Alabama, Georgia, and Florida were moved to the new Eleventh Circuit.

On March 31, 1982, the Fifth Circuit lost jurisdiction over the Panama Canal Zone as the Canal Zone transferred to Panamanian control.

The Fifth Circuit Four

During the late 1950s, Chief Judge Elbert Tuttle and his three colleagues John Minor Wisdom, John Brown, and Richard Rives became known as the "Fifth Circuit Four" (or simply "The Four") for decisions crucial in advancing the civil rights of African-Americans; in this they were opposed by Ben Cameron.

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans on August 29, 2005, devastating the city and slightly damaging the John Minor Wisdom Courthouse. All deadlines concerning filings were extended, but the court has now returned to normal operations in New Orleans.

Current composition of the court

As of the Senate confirmation of Leslie Southwick on October 24, 2007, the judges on the court are:

Pending nominations

On July 17, 2007, President George W. Bush nominated Catharina Haynes to Seat 11 vacated by Harold R. DeMoss, Jr..

List of former judges

Chief judges

Succession of seats

Notes

References

Books

*Bass, Jack (1990). Unlikely Heroes. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-0491-6.

** a journalist's history of the Fifth Circuit's struggles with state officials determined to resist desegregation. Web references

* Standard Search. Federal Law Clerk Information System. .

** primary but incomplete source for the duty stations

* Instructions for Judicial Directory. Website of the University of Texas Law School. .

** secondary source for the duty stations

** data is current to 2002

** Judge Owen's duty station comes from a third source

* U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Official website of the Federal Judicial Center. .

** 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

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Last updated on Saturday February 23, 2008 at 10:23:16 PST (GMT -0800)
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