Sunday, December 12, 2021

The Third Circuit of the Federal Courts - Demographics

Placing the same lens over the Districts of the Third Circuit of the Federal Courts.  The Third Circuit serves a total of 6 Districts covering three states and one U.S. territory.  The breakdown looks like this:

  • Pennsylvania
    • Western District - 10 seats
    • Middle District - 6 seats
    • Eastern District - 22 seats
  • New Jersey - 17 seats
  • Delaware - 4 seats, and
  • U. S. Virgin Islands - 2 seats
The Eastern District of Pennsylvania is one of the 4 largest being of equal size to the Northern District of Illinois, and smaller by 6 seats from either the Central District of California or the Southern District of New York.  The District of the U. S. Virgin Islands is one of 4 territorial Districts that include: Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Northern Marianas Islands.  The United State's other colonial holding, American Samoa, does not have a resident court, but Federal cases are referred to the jurisdiction of the District of Hawaii.

One notable difference with the 11th Circuit, wherein active judges who were appointed by presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton are still serving, the longest serving active judge in the 3rd Circuit only goes back to the George W. Bush presidency.  Another interesting fact about this Circuit is that in the District of New Jersey, female Justices hold the majority of seats.  This is one of only a handful of Districts where this is true out of the total of 97.  And the Districts of Western Pennsylvania and the U. S. Virgin Islands both have gender parity.  Additionally, there is a seat that will open up on the District of Delaware Courts, as Justice Leonard Stark has been nominated to a seat on the Federal Appellate Court.  This would give President Biden the opportunity to bring Delaware's District court to parity, as well, thus giving the Third Circuit the honor of being the first Federal Circuit where the majority of Districts have either parity or majority for female Justices.

Without further ado, the Demographics:










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