Each of the thirteen federal circuit courts is assigned one Supreme Court Justice who then considers certain appeals (e.g., emergency requests and other matters) from his or her assigned circuit while other aspects of the case are still pending. The Chief Justice of the United States is responsible, under 28 U.S.C. 42, for allotting circuit justices “in vacation.”
See 28 U.S.C. 42:
Former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement took effect on July 31, 2018 [see blog], leaving the Court with eight justices until a new justice is confirmed. Former Justice Anthony Kennedy was the Circuit Justice for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. This assignment was significant insofar as the Ninth Circuit has by far the largest jurisdiction of all the circuits, and it considers more immigration appeals than any of the other circuits. On August 1, 2018, Chief Justice John Roberts assigned the Ninth Circuit to himself [PDF version]. Once Justice Kennedy’s replacement is confirmed [see blog on the nominee], we can expect that the allotment of circuit courts will be re-configured. We will update the site with that information when it becomes available.
The following are the current Circuit Justice assignments along with the geographic or subject-matter jurisdiction of each circuit [PDF version]:
United States Circuit Court for the District of Columbia Circuit — Chief Justice John Roberts
District of Colombia
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit — Justice Stephen Breyer
Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, and Rhode Island
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Connecticut, New York, and Vermont
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit — Justice Samuel Alito
Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and U.S. Virgin Islands
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit — Chief Justice John Roberts
Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Virginia
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit — Justice Samuel Alito
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit — Justice Elena Kagan
Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit — Justice Elena Kagan
Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit — Justice Neil Gorsuch
Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit — Chief Justice John Roberts
Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Nevada, Northern Mariana Islands, Washington
United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit — Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit — Justice Clarence Thomas
Alabama, Florida, and Georgia
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit — Chief Justice John Roberts
Subject-matter jurisdiction
