The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. courts of appeals, and it covers only the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It meets at the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse in Washington, DC. The D.C. Circuit is often considered to be second only to the U.S. Supreme Court in status and prestige, and it is sometimes unofficially termed "the second highest court in the land". Because its jurisdiction covers the District of Columbia, it tends to be the main federal appellate court for issues of U.S.

administrative law Administrative law is a division of law governing the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law includes executive branch rulemaking (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regul ...

and

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

. Four of the nine current Supreme Court justices were previously judges on the D.C. Circuit: Chief Justice John Roberts and associate justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Past justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, Warren E. Burger, Fred M. Vinson, and Wiley Blount Rutledge also served on the D.C. Circuit before their appointments to the Supreme Court. Because the D.C. Circuit does not represent any state, confirmation of nominees can be procedurally and practically easier than for nominees to the Courts of Appeals for the other geographical districts, as home-state senators have historically been able to hold up confirmation through the blue slip process.

Current composition of the court

List of former judges

Chiefs

When Congress established this court in 1893 as the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, it had a chief justice, and the other judges were called associate justices, which was similar to the structure of the Supreme Court. The chief justiceship was a separate seat: the president would appoint the chief justice, and that person would stay chief justice until he left the court. On June 25, 1948, 62 ''Stat.'' 869 and 62 ''Stat.'' 985 became law. These acts made the chief justice a chief judge. In 1954, another law, 68 ''Stat.'' 1245, clarified what was implicit in those laws: that the chief judgeship was not a mere renaming of the position but a change in its status that made it the same as the chief judge of other inferior courts.

Succession of seats

The court has eleven seats for active judges after the elimination of Seat 8 under the Court Security Improvement Act of 2007. The seat that was originally the chief justiceship is numbered as Seat 1; the other seats are numbered in order of their creation. If seats were established simultaneously, they are numbered in the order in which they were filled. Judges who retire into senior status remain on the bench but leave their seat vacant. That seat is filled by the next circuit judge appointed by the president.

Notes

References

* ** Source for the duty station for Judge Williams * ** Source for the duty station for Judges Silberman and Buckley ** Data is current to 2002 * ** 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

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

Recent opinions from FindLaw

What Makes the DC Circuit so Different? A Historical View - Article by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Government in Washington, D.C. 1893 establishments in Washington, D.C. Courts and tribunals established in 1893