The Federal Courts are a three tiered system starting with the District courts, followed by the Appeals Courts and then finally, the court of last resolution, the Supreme Court. Geographically their our Eleven circuits and the DC Circuit (which is sort of a separate critter). All states, and territories are clustered into the Eleven Circuits. Using my graphics, I want to share the current state of the two lower tiers of the Federal Circuit Courts one Circuit at a time, beginning with the First Circuit. I divide each of the districts into wedges like a analog clock face with the longest serving justice started at noon and tracking around clockwise. In the First Circuit, each state is also it's own District. This is the only Circuit where this is true. The Colors indicate which Presidential Administration nominated the Justice.
- Districts cover for states and a territory
- The Districts and their Courthouses are:
- MAINE: Portland and Bangor
- NEW HAMPSHIRE: Concord
- MASSACHUSETTS: Boston, Springfield and Worcester
- RHODE ISLAND: Providence
- PUERTO RICO: San Juan,
- Vacancies
- There are currently two open seats in the District of Massachusetts. Both were open during the Trump Administration, and remained unfilled for the duration of his administration.
- Active Longevity
- Puerto Rico is still served by an active Judge, Justice Carmen Consuelo Cerezo, 80, who was appointed by president Jimmy Carter in 1980. Once appointed, judges have the option to serve for life.
Of the 29 seats in the First Circuit District Courts, 10 are currently held by women. With 2 vacancies, this amounts to 37% Female to 63% Male. 70% of the female Justices were appointed by Democratic Administrations and 30% by Republican Administrations. It is worthy of noting that of the 4 judges that the Trump Administration appointed to this Circuit, 2 (or 50%) were women.
JUDICIAL LONGEVITY IN THE CIRCUIT
Besides the 29 seats reserved for Active status justices, when a Justice retires from Active status, they have the option to continue hearing cases in a Senior status. Senior Justices hear fewer cases and have more control of the number of cases that they chose to adjudicate. Their continued presence in a District can greatly help to ease the workload. Typically, they are assigned less complicated cases. Nearly all of the Districts have Justices serving in a Senior Status. I can only think of two that presently do not, and one is the District of Rhode Island in this Circuit. While there are still two Justices listed as being in the Senior status category, both are also currently "inactive". The additional status of "inactive" usually indicates that the justice is unable to perform their duties due to a medical condition, but hopes to return after its resolution. As I have been studying the courts for the past 20 years, it seems fair to say that those who do return to work are the exception.
LONGEVITY OF SENIOR STATUS JUSTICES: (excluding "inactive" Justices) Those who are still serving and hearing cases!
- Justice Rya W. Zobel of the District of Massachusetts, 89; appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979
- Justice Gene Carter of the District of Maine, 85; appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983
- Justice Mark L. Wolf of the District of Massachusetts, 74; appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985
BEST NAMES!
A bit a silly levity that is totally subjective, but also rather interesting in that Judges do seem to have rather eclectic names. These three in chronological order are my trio of favorites from this circuit:
A bit a silly levity that is totally subjective, but also rather interesting in that Judges do seem to have rather eclectic names. These three in chronological order are my trio of favorites from this circuit:
- Justice Ashur Ware (1782-1873), appointed to the District of Maine by President James Monroe
- Justice Peleg Sprague (1793-1880), appointed to the District of Massachusetts by President John Tyler
- Justice Shane Devine (1926-1999), appointed to the District of New Hampshire by President Jimmy Carter
FIRST CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS
With the First Circuit Appeals courts are just 6 seats. It's one of the smallest Appellate Courts in the Federal system. Justices to this court can be elevated from a District Court or chosen from another background altogether. When I depict a wedge with two colors, it represents the fact that the Justice started out in a District and was elevated to the Appellate. The two shades of the longest serving justice reveals that President Clinton elevated the Judge to the Appellate, and President Carter first appointed the Judge to the District. All the other Justices in the First Circuit Appeals court did not have prior experience at the Federal District level before being nominated and confirmed.
Back in November of 2020, Senator Mitch McConnell bragged that the Trump Administration had accomplished the unthinkable; with his guidance, they had completely filled all the vacant seats of the Federal Appellate Courts. I remember thinking at the time that he was just full of shit. 1) The reason that the system had so many openings in the first place is because he blocked dozens of nominees during the Obama administration, and 2) Justice Juan R. Torruella of the First Circuit Appeals Court had just died on October 20th.
The Appellate Court of the First Circuit maintains court houses in Concord, NH; Boston, MA; Portland, ME, and Providence, RI. The gender parity of the six justices are three men to 2 women. In the history of the Circuit that stretches all the way back to President George Washington, only two Justices have been elevated to serve on the Supreme Court. Both in the 1990's. Justice Stephen Breyer is still a Supreme Court Justice today.
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