Court of Appeals
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Hears appeals from the district courts within its circuit. Cases are normally decided by panels of three judges, and its rulings bind every district court in that circuit. For nearly all litigants this is the last court that will hear the case.
The bench
Who sits on this court?
Judges in active service, when they were confirmed, and who nominated each.
| Judge | Since | Nominated by | Seat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pasco Middleton Bowman II Senior | 1983 | Ronald Reagan | CA80705 |
| Roger Leland Wollman Senior | 1985 | Ronald Reagan | CA81301 |
| James B. Loken | 1990 | George H.W. Bush | CA81102 |
| David Rasmussen Hansen Senior | 1991 | George H.W. Bush | CA81401 |
| Morris Sheppard Arnold Senior | 1992 | George H.W. Bush | CA80903 |
| Michael Joseph Melloy Senior | 2002 | George W. Bush | CA80409 |
| Lavenski R. Smith | 2002 | George W. Bush | CA81202 |
| Steven M. Colloton | 2003 | George W. Bush | CA81402 |
| Raymond W. Gruender | 2004 | George W. Bush | CA80706 |
| William Duane Benton Senior | 2004 | George W. Bush | CA80309 |
| Bobby E. Shepherd | 2006 | George W. Bush | CA80904 |
| Jane Louise Kelly | 2013 | Barack Obama | CA80410 |
| Ralph R. Erickson Senior | 2017 | Donald J. Trump | CA81007 |
| Leonard Steven Grasz | 2017 | Donald J. Trump | CA80607 |
| David Ryan Stras | 2018 | Donald J. Trump | CA80806 |
| Jonathan Allen Kobes | 2018 | Donald J. Trump | CA81302 |
| Justin Daniel Smith | 2026 | Donald J. Trump | CA80310 |
| Daniel Mack Traynor | 2026 | Donald J. Trump | CA81008 |
Source · Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, 1789–present (public domain)
What seats does this court have?
Each seat on this court, who holds it, and how many judges have held it before.
- Judges seated now
- 18
- Seat numbers on record
- 65
| Seat | Held by | Since | Holders to date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA80309 | William Duane Benton | 2004 | 1 |
| CA80310 | Justin Daniel Smith | 2026 | 1 |
| CA80409 | Michael Joseph Melloy | 2002 | 1 |
| CA80410 | Jane Louise Kelly | 2013 | 1 |
| CA80607 | Leonard Steven Grasz | 2018 | 1 |
| CA80705 | Pasco Middleton Bowman II | 1983 | 1 |
| CA80706 | Raymond W. Gruender | 2004 | 1 |
| CA80806 | David Ryan Stras | 2018 | 1 |
| CA80903 | Morris Sheppard Arnold | 1992 | 1 |
| CA80904 | Bobby E. Shepherd | 2006 | 1 |
| CA81007 | Ralph R. Erickson | 2017 | 1 |
| CA81008 | Daniel Mack Traynor | 2026 | 1 |
| CA81102 | James B. Loken | 1990 | 1 |
| CA81202 | Lavenski R. Smith | 2002 | 1 |
| CA81301 | Roger Leland Wollman | 1985 | 1 |
| CA81302 | Jonathan Allen Kobes | 2018 | 1 |
| CA81401 | David Rasmussen Hansen | 1991 | 1 |
| CA81402 | Steven M. Colloton | 2003 | 1 |
47 seat numbers with no sitting judge
These are seat numbers in the historical record with nobody currently in them. That usually means the seat was abolished or renumbered, not that it is open today — Congress has changed the size of federal courts many times. Do not read this as a vacancy list.
| Seat | Last held by | Until | Holders |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA80101 | Henry Clay Caldwell | 1903 | 1 |
| CA80102 | William Cather Hook | 1921 | 1 |
| CA80103 | Robert E. Lewis | 1929 | 1 |
| CA80201 | Walter Henry Sanborn | 1928 | 1 |
| CA80202 | John Hazelton Cotteral | 1929 | 1 |
| CA80301 | Amos Madden Thayer | 1905 | 1 |
| CA80302 | Elmer Bragg Adams | 1916 | 1 |
| CA80303 | Kimbrough Stone | 1958 | 1 |
| CA80304 | John Caskie Collet | 1955 | 1 |
| CA80305 | Charles Evans Whittaker | 1957 | 1 |
| CA80306 | Marion Charles Matthes | 1980 | 1 |
| CA80307 | William Hedgcock Webster | 1978 | 1 |
| CA80308 | Theodore McMillian | 2006 | 1 |
| CA80401 | Willis Van Devanter | 1910 | 1 |
| CA80402 | Walter Inglewood Smith | 1922 | 1 |
| CA80403 | William Squire Kenyon | 1933 | 1 |
| CA80404 | Charles Breckenridge Faris | 1938 | 1 |
| CA80405 | Seth Thomas | 1962 | 1 |
| CA80406 | Martin Donald Van Oosterhout | 1979 | 1 |
| CA80407 | Roy Laverne Stephenson | 1982 | 1 |
| CA80408 | George Gardner Fagg | 2015 | 1 |
| CA80501 | John Emmett Carland | 1922 | 1 |
| CA80601 | Wilbur Franklin Booth | 1944 | 1 |
| CA80602 | John Benjamin Sanborn | 1964 | 1 |
| CA80603 | Harry Andrew Blackmun | 1970 | 1 |
| CA80604 | Donald Roe Ross | 2013 | 1 |
| CA80605 | Clarence Arlen Beam | 2025 | 1 |
| CA80606 | William Jay Riley | 2023 | 1 |
| CA80701 | Arba Seymour Van Valkenburgh | 1944 | 1 |
| CA80702 | Joseph William Woodrough | 1977 | 1 |
| CA80703 | Pat Mehaffy | 1981 | 1 |
| CA80704 | Jesse Smith Henley | 1997 | 1 |
| CA80801 | Archibald K. Gardner | 1962 | 1 |
| CA80802 | Albert Alphonso Ridge | 1967 | 1 |
| CA80803 | Floyd Robert Gibson | 2001 | 1 |
| CA80804 | John R. Gibson | 2014 | 1 |
| CA80805 | Diana E. Murphy | 2018 | 1 |
| CA80901 | Harvey M. Johnsen | 1975 | 1 |
| CA80902 | Donald Pomery Lay | 2007 | 1 |
| CA81001 | Walter Garrett Riddick | 1953 | 1 |
| CA81002 | Charles Joseph Vogel | 1980 | 1 |
| CA81003 | Myron H. Bright | 2016 | 1 |
| CA81004 | Frank J. Magill | 2013 | 1 |
| CA81005 | John David Kelly | 1998 | 1 |
| CA81006 | Kermit Edward Bye | 2016 | 1 |
| CA81101 | Gerald William Heaney | 2006 | 1 |
| CA81201 | Richard Sheppard Arnold | 2004 | 1 |
This site does not publish a vacancy count. Seat identifiers are not stable across court renamings and reorganisations, so a seat that was vacated and refilled can appear empty when it is not. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts publishes the authoritative list of current judicial vacancies: uscourts.gov.
Seats are created by Congress and filled by the President with the Senate's consent. For current vacancies, use the Administrative Office's published list rather than inferring them from this table.
Source · Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, 1789–present (public domain)
How this bench was built
Who appointed them?
The tally of presidents who placed the sitting judges on this court.
- Republican
- 17
- Democratic
- 1
| President | Judges |
|---|---|
| George W. Bush | 6 |
| Donald J. Trump | 6 |
| George H.W. Bush | 3 |
| Ronald Reagan | 2 |
| Barack Obama | 1 |
The party of the president who appointed a judge is a matter of record. How that judge will rule is not, and this site draws no inference from one to the other.
Source · Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, 1789–present (public domain)