Court of Appeals
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carolyn Dineen King Senior | 1979 | Jimmy Carter | CA51901 |
| Patrick Errol Higginbotham Senior | 1982 | Ronald Reagan | CA50404 |
| W. Eugene Davis Senior | 1983 | Ronald Reagan | CA51102 |
| Edith Hollan Jones | 1985 | Ronald Reagan | CA52701 |
| Jerry Edwin Smith | 1987 | Ronald Reagan | CA52801 |
| Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale Senior | 1990 | George H.W. Bush | CA50108 |
| Jacques Loeb Wiener Jr. Senior | 1990 | George H.W. Bush | CA50307 |
| Carl E. Stewart | 1994 | William J. Clinton | CA52901 |
| James L. Dennis Senior | 1995 | William J. Clinton | CA51303 |
| Edith Brown Clement Senior | 2001 | George W. Bush | CA52303 |
| Priscilla Richman | 2005 | George W. Bush | CA52602 |
| Jennifer Walker Elrod | 2007 | George W. Bush | CA50405 |
| Leslie Southwick | 2007 | George W. Bush | CA52003 |
| Catharina Haynes | 2008 | George W. Bush | CA51004 |
| James Earl Graves Jr. | 2011 | Barack Obama | CA50109 |
| Stephen Andrew Higginson | 2011 | Barack Obama | CA50308 |
| Don R. Willett | 2017 | Donald J. Trump | CA52203 |
| James C. Ho | 2017 | Donald J. Trump | CA51902 |
| Stuart Kyle Duncan | 2018 | Donald J. Trump | CA51103 |
| Kurt Damian Engelhardt | 2018 | Donald J. Trump | CA52304 |
| Andrew Stephen Oldham | 2018 | Donald J. Trump | CA52404 |
| Cory Todd Wilson | 2020 | Donald J. Trump | CA50208 |
| Dana Marie Douglas | 2022 | Joseph R. Biden | CA51304 |
| Irma Carrillo Ramirez | 2023 | Joseph R. Biden | CA51505 |
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
- 24
- Seat numbers on record
- 91
| Seat | Held by | Since | Holders to date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA50108 | Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale | 1990 | 1 |
| CA50109 | James Earl Graves Jr. | 2011 | 1 |
| CA50208 | Cory Todd Wilson | 2020 | 1 |
| CA50307 | Jacques Loeb Wiener Jr. | 1990 | 1 |
| CA50308 | Stephen Andrew Higginson | 2011 | 1 |
| CA50404 | Patrick Errol Higginbotham | 1982 | 1 |
| CA50405 | Jennifer Walker Elrod | 2007 | 1 |
| CA51004 | Catharina Haynes | 2008 | 1 |
| CA51102 | W. Eugene Davis | 1983 | 1 |
| CA51103 | Stuart Kyle Duncan | 2018 | 1 |
| CA51303 | James L. Dennis | 1995 | 1 |
| CA51304 | Dana Marie Douglas | 2022 | 1 |
| CA51505 | Irma Carrillo Ramirez | 2023 | 1 |
| CA51901 | Carolyn Dineen King | 1979 | 1 |
| CA51902 | James C. Ho | 2018 | 1 |
| CA52003 | Leslie Southwick | 2007 | 1 |
| CA52203 | Don R. Willett | 2018 | 1 |
| CA52303 | Edith Brown Clement | 2001 | 1 |
| CA52304 | Kurt Damian Engelhardt | 2018 | 1 |
| CA52404 | Andrew Stephen Oldham | 2018 | 1 |
| CA52602 | Priscilla Richman | 2005 | 1 |
| CA52701 | Edith Hollan Jones | 1985 | 1 |
| CA52801 | Jerry Edwin Smith | 1987 | 1 |
| CA52901 | Carl E. Stewart | 1994 | 1 |
67 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA50101 | Don Albert Pardee | 1919 | 1 |
| CA50102 | Alexander Campbell King | 1924 | 1 |
| CA50103 | Rufus Edward Foster | 1942 | 1 |
| CA50104 | Elmo Pearce Lee | 1949 | 1 |
| CA50105 | Wayne G. Borah | 1966 | 1 |
| CA50106 | John Minor Wisdom | 1999 | 1 |
| CA50107 | Alvin Benjamin Rubin | 1991 | 1 |
| CA50201 | Andrew Phelps McCormick | 1916 | 1 |
| CA50202 | Robert Lynn Batts | 1919 | 1 |
| CA50203 | Nathan Philemon Bryan | 1935 | 1 |
| CA50204 | Edwin Ruthven Holmes | 1961 | 1 |
| CA50205 | Benjamin Franklin Cameron | 1964 | 1 |
| CA50206 | James Plemon Coleman | 1984 | 1 |
| CA50207 | E. Grady Jolly | 2026 | 1 |
| CA50301 | David Davie Shelby | 1914 | 1 |
| CA50302 | Richard Wilde Walker | 1936 | 1 |
| CA50303 | Samuel Hale Sibley | 1958 | 1 |
| CA50304 | Robert Lee Russell | 1955 | 1 |
| CA50305 | John Robert Brown | 1993 | 1 |
| CA50306 | Robert Madden Hill | 1987 | 1 |
| CA50401 | Joseph Chappell Hutcheson Jr. | 1973 | 1 |
| CA50402 | William Homer Thornberry | 1995 | 1 |
| CA50403 | Reynaldo Guerra Garza | 2004 | 1 |
| CA50501 | Leon Clarence McCord | 1952 | 1 |
| CA50502 | Richard Taylor Rives | 1981 | 1 |
| CA50503 | John Cooper Godbold | 1981 | 1 |
| CA50601 | Curtis Longino Waller | 1950 | 1 |
| CA50602 | Louie Willard Strum | 1954 | 1 |
| CA50603 | Warren Leroy Jones | 1981 | 1 |
| CA50604 | David William Dyer | 1981 | 1 |
| CA50605 | Peter Thorp Fay | 1981 | 1 |
| CA50701 | Elbert Parr Tuttle | 1981 | 1 |
| CA50702 | Lewis Render Morgan | 1981 | 1 |
| CA50703 | Phyllis A. Kravitch | 1981 | 1 |
| CA50801 | Walter Pettus Gewin | 1981 | 1 |
| CA50802 | Robert Smith Vance | 1981 | 1 |
| CA50901 | Griffin Boyette Bell | 1976 | 1 |
| CA50902 | James Clinkscales Hill | 1981 | 1 |
| CA51001 | Irving Loeb Goldberg | 1995 | 1 |
| CA51002 | Jerre Stockton Williams | 1993 | 1 |
| CA51003 | Harold R. DeMoss Jr. | 2015 | 1 |
| CA51101 | Robert Andrew Ainsworth Jr. | 1981 | 1 |
| CA51201 | John Milton Bryan Simpson | 1981 | 1 |
| CA51202 | Gerald Bard Tjoflat | 1981 | 1 |
| CA51301 | Claude Feemster Clayton | 1969 | 1 |
| CA51302 | Charles Clark | 1992 | 1 |
| CA51401 | George Harrold Carswell | 1970 | 1 |
| CA51402 | Paul Hitch Roney | 1981 | 1 |
| CA51501 | Joe McDonald Ingraham | 1990 | 1 |
| CA51502 | Thomas Gibbs Gee | 1991 | 1 |
| CA51503 | Fortunato Pedro Benavides | 2023 | 1 |
| CA51504 | Gregg Jeffrey Costa | 2022 | 1 |
| CA51601 | Frank Minis Johnson Jr. | 1981 | 1 |
| CA51701 | Albert John Henderson | 1981 | 1 |
| CA51801 | Robert Lanier Anderson III | 1981 | 1 |
| CA52001 | Henry Anthony Politz | 2002 | 1 |
| CA52002 | Charles Willis Pickering Sr. | 2004 | 1 |
| CA52101 | Joseph Woodrow Hatchett | 1981 | 1 |
| CA52201 | Thomas Morrow Reavley | 2020 | 1 |
| CA52202 | Emilio M. Garza | 2015 | 1 |
| CA52301 | Albert Tate Jr. | 1986 | 1 |
| CA52302 | John Malcolm Duhe Jr. | 2025 | 1 |
| CA52401 | Samuel D. Johnson Jr. | 2002 | 1 |
| CA52402 | Robert Manley Parker | 2002 | 1 |
| CA52403 | Edward Charles Prado | 2018 | 1 |
| CA52501 | Thomas Alonzo Clark | 1981 | 1 |
| CA52601 | William Lockhart Garwood | 2011 | 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
- 7
| President | Judges |
|---|---|
| Donald J. Trump | 6 |
| George W. Bush | 5 |
| Ronald Reagan | 4 |
| George H.W. Bush | 2 |
| William J. Clinton | 2 |
| Joseph R. Biden | 2 |
| Barack Obama | 2 |
| Jimmy Carter | 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)