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 one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has

appellate jurisdiction An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appellat ...

over the

U.S. district courts The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one fede ...

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 * Eastern District of Texas * Northern District of Texas * Southern District of Texas * Western District of Texas 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 United States Court of Appeals Building is a historic courthouse for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit located at 600 Camp Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2015 it was designated a National Histori ...

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, with the clerk's office located at the F. Edward Hebert Federal Building in New Orleans. Originally, the Fifth Circuit also included the federal district courts in

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, and

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. 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 U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, and

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. On June 25, 1948, the

Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone (), also known as just the Canal Zone, was a International zone#Concessions, concession of the United States located in the Isthmus of Panama that existed from 1903 to 1979. It consisted of the Panama Canal and an area gene ...

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 which existed in the Panama Canal Zone of Panama from 1914 to 1982. The court sat at the Courthouse at Ancon Hill from 1914 to 19 ...

. On October 1, 1981, under , 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, which was transferred to Panamanian control.

The Fifth Circuit Four

Starting in the late 1950s, judges Elbert Parr Tuttle (chief judge 1960–1967),

John Minor Wisdom John Minor Wisdom (May 17, 1905 – May 15, 1999), one of the "Fifth Circuit Four", and a United States Republican Party, Republican from Louisiana, was a United States federal judge, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appe ...

, John R. Brown (chief judge 1967–1979), and Richard T. Rives (chief judge 1959–60) became known as the " Fifth Circuit Four", or simply "The Four", for decisions crucial in advancing the

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

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

s. In this, they were usually opposed by their fellow Fifth Circuit Judge, Benjamin F. Cameron of Mississippi, until his death in 1964.

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

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.

2020s

During his first administration, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

appointed six judges to the court, with many observers thereafter regarding it as the most conservative

court of appeals An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appellat ...

. The Fifth Circuit's reversal rate at the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

from the beginning of the 2020 term through the end of the 2022 term was 74%, making it the 7th most frequently reversed circuit court; the average rate of reversals was 68%. Some members of the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...

, have indicated concern with how the Fifth Circuit approaches cases. Several court observers have interpreted the court as being exceptionally conservative in its rulings.

Current composition of the court

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