Court of Appeals
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony Joseph Scirica Senior | 1987 | Ronald Reagan | CA30704 |
| Robert E. Cowen Senior | 1987 | Ronald Reagan | CA30307 |
| Richard Lowell Nygaard Senior | 1988 | Ronald Reagan | CA30107 |
| Jane Richards Roth Senior | 1991 | George H.W. Bush | CA30603 |
| Theodore Alexander McKee Senior | 1994 | William J. Clinton | CA30904 |
| Marjorie O. Rendell Senior | 1997 | William J. Clinton | CA30210 |
| Thomas L. Ambro Senior | 2000 | William J. Clinton | CA31302 |
| Julio M. Fuentes Senior | 2000 | William J. Clinton | CA30308 |
| David Brooks Smith Senior | 2002 | George W. Bush | CA31402 |
| D. Michael Fisher Senior | 2003 | George W. Bush | CA31202 |
| Michael A. Chagares | 2006 | George W. Bush | CA30806 |
| Thomas Michael Hardiman | 2007 | George W. Bush | CA30108 |
| Patty Shwartz | 2013 | Barack Obama | CA31503 |
| Cheryl Ann Krause | 2014 | Barack Obama | CA31102 |
| Luis Felipe Restrepo | 2016 | Barack Obama | CA30705 |
| Stephanos Bibas | 2017 | Donald J. Trump | CA30211 |
| David James Porter | 2018 | Donald J. Trump | CA31203 |
| Paul Brian Matey | 2019 | Donald J. Trump | CA30309 |
| Peter Joseph Phipps | 2019 | Donald J. Trump | CA31006 |
| Arianna Julia Freeman | 2022 | Joseph R. Biden | CA30905 |
| Tamika Renee Montgomery-Reeves | 2022 | Joseph R. Biden | CA31303 |
| Cindy Kyounga Chung | 2023 | Joseph R. Biden | CA31403 |
| Emil Joseph Bove III | 2025 | Donald J. Trump | CA30507 |
| Jennifer Lee Mascott | 2025 | Donald J. Trump | CA30605 |
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
- 77
| Seat | Held by | Since | Holders to date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA30107 | Richard Lowell Nygaard | 1988 | 1 |
| CA30108 | Thomas Michael Hardiman | 2007 | 1 |
| CA30210 | Marjorie O. Rendell | 1997 | 1 |
| CA30211 | Stephanos Bibas | 2017 | 1 |
| CA30307 | Robert E. Cowen | 1987 | 1 |
| CA30308 | Julio M. Fuentes | 2000 | 1 |
| CA30309 | Paul Brian Matey | 2019 | 1 |
| CA30507 | Emil Joseph Bove III | 2025 | 1 |
| CA30603 | Jane Richards Roth | 1991 | 1 |
| CA30605 | Jennifer Lee Mascott | 2025 | 1 |
| CA30704 | Anthony Joseph Scirica | 1987 | 1 |
| CA30705 | Luis Felipe Restrepo | 2016 | 1 |
| CA30806 | Michael A. Chagares | 2006 | 1 |
| CA30904 | Theodore Alexander McKee | 1994 | 1 |
| CA30905 | Arianna Julia Freeman | 2022 | 1 |
| CA31006 | Peter Joseph Phipps | 2019 | 1 |
| CA31102 | Cheryl Ann Krause | 2014 | 1 |
| CA31202 | D. Michael Fisher | 2003 | 1 |
| CA31203 | David James Porter | 2018 | 1 |
| CA31302 | Thomas L. Ambro | 2000 | 1 |
| CA31303 | Tamika Renee Montgomery-Reeves | 2023 | 1 |
| CA31402 | David Brooks Smith | 2002 | 1 |
| CA31403 | Cindy Kyounga Chung | 2023 | 1 |
| CA31503 | Patty Shwartz | 2013 | 1 |
53 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA30101 | Marcus Wilson Acheson | 1906 | 1 |
| CA30102 | Joseph Buffington | 1947 | 1 |
| CA30103 | Francis Biddle | 1940 | 1 |
| CA30104 | Herbert Funk Goodrich | 1962 | 1 |
| CA30105 | Abraham L Freedman | 1971 | 1 |
| CA30106 | Joseph Francis Weis Jr. | 2014 | 1 |
| CA30201 | George Mifflin Dallas | 1909 | 1 |
| CA30202 | William Mershon Lanning | 1912 | 1 |
| CA30203 | John Bayard McPherson | 1919 | 1 |
| CA30204 | Thomas Griffith Haight | 1920 | 1 |
| CA30205 | John Warren Davis | 1941 | 1 |
| CA30206 | Charles Alvin Jones | 1944 | 1 |
| CA30207 | Harry Ellis Kalodner | 1977 | 1 |
| CA30208 | Arlin Marvin Adams | 1987 | 1 |
| CA30209 | William D. Hutchinson | 1995 | 1 |
| CA30301 | George Gray | 1914 | 1 |
| CA30302 | Victor Baynard Woolley | 1945 | 1 |
| CA30303 | Albert Branson Maris | 1989 | 1 |
| CA30304 | Phillip Forman | 1978 | 1 |
| CA30305 | William Francis Smith | 1968 | 1 |
| CA30306 | James Hunter III | 1989 | 1 |
| CA30401 | Robert Wodrow Archbald | 1913 | 1 |
| CA30501 | Joseph Whitaker Thompson | 1946 | 1 |
| CA30502 | William Clark | 1942 | 1 |
| CA30503 | Gerald McLaughlin | 1977 | 1 |
| CA30504 | John Joseph Gibbons | 1990 | 1 |
| CA30505 | Samuel A. Alito Jr. | 2006 | 1 |
| CA30506 | Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. | 2023 | 1 |
| CA30601 | John Biggs Jr. | 1979 | 1 |
| CA30602 | Collins Jacques Seitz | 1998 | 1 |
| CA30604 | Kent A. Jordan | 2025 | 1 |
| CA30701 | John Joseph O'Connell | 1949 | 1 |
| CA30702 | Austin Leander Staley | 1978 | 1 |
| CA30703 | Ruggero John Aldisert | 2014 | 1 |
| CA30801 | William Henry Hastie | 1976 | 1 |
| CA30802 | James Rosen | 1972 | 1 |
| CA30803 | Leonard I. Garth | 2016 | 1 |
| CA30804 | Morton Ira Greenberg | 2021 | 1 |
| CA30805 | Michael Chertoff | 2005 | 1 |
| CA30901 | James Cullen Ganey | 1972 | 1 |
| CA30902 | Francis Lund Van Dusen | 1993 | 1 |
| CA30903 | Aloyisus Leon Higginbotham Jr. | 1993 | 1 |
| CA31001 | David Henry Stahl | 1970 | 1 |
| CA31002 | Max Rosenn | 2006 | 1 |
| CA31003 | Edward Roy Becker | 2006 | 1 |
| CA31004 | Franklin Stuart Van Antwerpen | 2016 | 1 |
| CA31005 | Thomas Ignatius Vanaskie | 2019 | 1 |
| CA31101 | Dolores Korman Sloviter | 2022 | 1 |
| CA31201 | Carol Los Mansmann | 2002 | 1 |
| CA31301 | Walter King Stapleton | 2024 | 1 |
| CA31401 | Timothy K. Lewis | 1999 | 1 |
| CA31501 | H. Lee Sarokin | 1996 | 1 |
| CA31502 | Maryanne Trump Barry | 2019 | 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
- 14
- Democratic
- 10
| President | Judges |
|---|---|
| Donald J. Trump | 6 |
| William J. Clinton | 4 |
| George W. Bush | 4 |
| Joseph R. Biden | 3 |
| Ronald Reagan | 3 |
| Barack Obama | 3 |
| George H.W. Bush | 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)