The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in

case citation Case citation is a system used by legal professionals to identify past court case decisions, either in series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a neutral style that identifies a decision regardless of where it is reported. Case c ...

s, 5th Cir.) is a federal court with

appellate jurisdiction A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much ...

over the district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * Eastern District of Louisiana * Middle District of Louisiana * Western District of Louisiana * Northern District of Mississippi *

Southern District of Mississippi The United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi (in case citations, S.D. Miss.) is a federal court in the Fifth Circuit with facilities in Gulfport, Hattiesburg, Natchez, and Jackson. Appeals from cases brought in t ...

* Eastern District of Texas * Northern District of Texas *

Southern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (in case citations, S.D. Tex.) is the federal district court with jurisdiction over the southeastern part of Texas. The court's headquarters is in Houston, Texas and has six ad ...

Western District of Texas The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (in case citations, W.D. Tex.) is a federal district court. The court convenes in San Antonio with divisions in Austin, Del Rio, El Paso, Midland, Pecos, and Waco. It has ju ...

The Fifth Circuit has 17 active judgeships, and is headquartered at the

John Minor Wisdom United States Court of Appeals Building The John Minor Wisdom U.S. Court of Appeals Building, located at 600 Camp Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, is a historic courthouse for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In 2015 it was designated a National Historic Landm ...

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, with the clerk's office located at the

F. Edward Hebert F is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet. F may also refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * F or f, the number 15 in hexadecimal and higher positional systems * ''p'F'q'', the hypergeometric function * F-distribution, a cont ...

Federal Building in New Orleans. Originally, the Fifth Circuit also included the federal district courts in

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

. In 1981, the district courts for those states were transferred to the newly created U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

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

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...

, and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. On June 25, 1948, the

Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone ( es, Zona del Canal de Panamá), also simply known as the Canal Zone, was an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the Isthmus of Panama, that existed from 1903 to 1979. It was located within the ter ...

was added to the Fifth Circuit by 62 Stat. 870. The Fifth Circuit gained appellate jurisdiction over the

United States District Court for the Canal Zone The United States District Court for the Canal Zone (in case citations, D.C.Z.) was a United States District Court that existed in the Panama Canal Zone of Panama from 1914 to 1982. Appeals were taken to the United States Court of Appeals for t ...

. On October 1, 1981, under , the Fifth Circuit was split: Alabama, Georgia, and Florida were moved to the new

Eleventh Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (in case citations, 11th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following U.S. district courts: * Middle District of Alabama * Northern District of Alabama * ...

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

The Fifth Circuit Four

During the late 1950s, Chief Judge Elbert Tuttle and three of his colleagues ( John Minor Wisdom, John Brown, and

Richard Rives Richard Taylor Rives (January 15, 1895 – October 27, 1982) was an American lawyer and judge. A native of Alabama, he was the sole Democrat among the "Fifth Circuit Four," four United States Circuit Judges of the United States Court of Appeal ...

) became known as the "

Fifth Circuit Four The "Fifth Circuit Four" (or simply "The Four") were four judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit who, during the late 1950s, became known for a series of decisions (which continued into the late 1960s) crucial in advanci ...

", or simply "The Four", for decisions crucial in advancing the

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

s. In this, they were usually opposed by their fellow Fifth Circuit Judge, Benjamin F. Cameron of Mississippi, until his death in 1964.That Fascinating and Frenetic Fifth
" Time Magazine, 1964-12-04.

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

struck New Orleans on August 29, 2005, devastating the city and slightly damaging the John Minor Wisdom Courthouse. All deadlines concerning filings were extended. The court temporarily relocated its administrative operations to Houston, and returned to normal operations in New Orleans in March 2007.

Current composition of the court

Vacancies and pending nominations

List of former judges

Chief judges

Succession of seats

References

External links

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

Recent Fifth Circuit opinions from FindLaw

Criminal law opinions from the Fifth Circuit

Business litigation opinions from the Fifth Circuit
{{DEFAULTSORT:United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit New Orleans 1891 establishments in the United States Courts and tribunals established in 1891