United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

First Circuit
Court of Appeals
Judgeships
Posts: 6
Judges: 5
Vacancies: 1
Judges
Chief:
Active judges: Seth Aframe, David Barron, Gustavo Gelpí, Lara Montecalvo, Julie Rikelman Senior judges: Levin Hicks Campbell, Jeffrey R. Howard, William Kayatta, Kermit Lipez, Sandra Lea Lynch, Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is a federal appellate court with appellate jurisdiction. It hears appeals from all of the circuit courts within its jurisdiction and its rulings may be appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Appeals are heard in the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts. There is another circuit courthouse located in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the court sits for two weeks a year.

Two judges of the First Circuit went on to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Stephen Breyer was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1994 by Bill Clinton (D), and David Souter was appointed in 1990 by George H. W. Bush (R).

This page contains the following information on the First Circuit.

• A list of the court's current vacancies
• A list of the court's active and senior judges
• An overview of the court's jurisdiction
• Selected case management statistics
• A brief history of the court
• Case reversal statistics by the Supreme Court of the United States
• Noteworthy cases heard by the court
• Where the court is located
• Information about U.S. Courts of Appeals

Vacancies

See also: Current federal judicial vacancies

There is one current vacancy on the First Circuit, out of the court's six judicial positions.

Pending nominations

There are no pending nominees for this court.

Active judges

Article III judges

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
David Barron	Barack Obama (D)	May 23, 2014 -	Harvard College, 1989	Harvard Law School, 1994
Gustavo Gelpí	Joe Biden (D)	October 19, 2021 -	Brandeis University, 1987	Suffolk University Law School, 1991
Lara Montecalvo	Joe Biden (D)	September 30, 2022 -	Swarthmore College, 1996	Boston College Law School, 2000
Julie Rikelman	Joe Biden (D)	June 23, 2023 -
Seth Aframe	Joe Biden (D)	May 23, 2024 -	Tufts University, 1996	Georgetown University Law Center, 1999

Active Article III judges by appointing political party

Below is a display of the number of active judges by the party of the appointing president. It does not reflect how a judge may rule on specific cases or their own political preferences.

• Democrat appointed: 5
• Republican appointed: 1

Senior judges

Senior status is a classification for federal judges at all levels who are semi-retired. Senior judges are Article III judges who, having met eligibility through age and service requirements, continue to serve on federal courts while typically hearing a reduced number of cases. Some senior judges, however, elect to retain a full caseload after taking senior status. According to the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, senior judges "typically handle about 15 percent of the federal courts' workload annually." The date listed under assumed office in the table below reflects the date that the judge took senior status.

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
Levin Hicks Campbell	Richard Nixon (R)	January 3, 1992 -	Harvard College, 1948	Harvard Law School, 1951
Kermit Lipez	Bill Clinton (D)	December 31, 2011 -	Haverford College, 1963	Yale Law School, 1967
Jeffrey R. Howard	George W. Bush (R)	March 31, 2022 -	Plymouth State College, 1978	Georgetown University Law Center, 1981
Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson		September 21, 2022 -	Brown University, 1973	Boston University School of Law, 1976
Sandra Lea Lynch		December 31, 2022 -	Wellesley College, 1968	Boston University School of Law, 1971
William Kayatta	Barack Obama (D)	October 31, 2024 -	Amherst College, 1976	Harvard Law School, 1979

Senior judges by appointing political party

Below is a display of the number of senior judges by the party of the appointing president. It does not reflect how a judge may rule on specific cases or their own political preferences.

• Democrat appointed: 4
• Republican appointed: 2

Former chief judges

In order to qualify for the office of chief judge in an Article III circuit or district court, or on the United States Court of International Trade, a judge must be in active service and hold seniority over the court's commissioned judges who are 64 years of age or under, have served one year or more, and have not previously served as chief judge.

In the event that no judge on the court meets those qualifications, the youngest judge in regular active service aged 65 years or more and who has served as a judge for one year or more shall become chief judge. If no judge meets those qualifications, the judge holding seniority in active service who has not served as chief before shall become the chief judge.

The chief judge serves for a term of seven years until another judge becomes eligible to serve in the position. No judge is permitted to serve as chief judge after reaching the age of 70 years unless no other judge is qualified to serve.

Unlike the chief justice of the United States, a chief judge returns to active service after the expiration of their term and does not create a vacancy on the court by the fact of their promotion.

On the United States Court of Federal Claims, the chief judge is selected by the president of the United States. The judge must be less than 70 years of age. A chief may serve until they reach age 70 or until another judge is designated by the president as the new chief judge. If the president selects a new chief judge, the former chief judge may continue active service on the court for the remainder of their appointed term.

Jeffrey R. Howard - (2015-2022) Sandra Lea Lynch - (2008-2015) Michael Boudin - (2001-2008) Juan Torruella - (1994-2001) Stephen Breyer - (1990-1994) Levin Hicks Campbell - (1983-1990)

Frank Coffin - (1972-1983) Bailey Aldrich - (1965-1972) Peter Woodbury - (1959-1964) Calvert Magruder - (1948-1959)

Former judges

To see a list of judges who previously served the First Circuit, click here.

Jurisdiction

Map of the First Circuit. Click on a district to find out more about it.

The First Circuit has appellate jurisdiction over cases heard in one of its subsidiary districts. These cases fall under federal law, and may be either civil or criminal in nature. Appeals of rulings by the First Circuit Court of Appeals are petitioned to the Supreme Court of the United States. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is the circuit justice for the First Circuit.

The United States Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit has jurisdiction over the following U.S. district courts:

• District of Maine
• District of Massachusetts
• District of New Hampshire
• District of Puerto Rico
• District of Rhode Island

Caseloads

This section contains court management statistics dating back to 2010. It was last updated in September 2024. Click [show] below for more information on caseload terms and definitions.

Caseload statistics explanation
Term	Explanation
Cases filed and terminated	The number of civil and criminal lawsuits formally initiated or decided by the court in a calendar year. The chart below reflects the table columns Cases filed and Cases terminated.
Average time from filing to disposition	The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to date of disposition (acquittal, sentencing, dismissal, etc.). The chart below reflects the table columns Median time (Criminal) and Median time (Civil).
Starting case load	The number of cases pending from the previous calendar year.
Cases filed	The number of civil and criminal lawsuits formally initiated in a calendar year.
Cases terminated	The total number of civil and criminal lawsuits decided by the court in a calendar year.
Remaining cases	The number of civil and criminal cases pending at the end of a given year.
Median time (Criminal)	The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to the date of disposition. In criminal cases, the date of disposition occurs on the day of sentencing or acquittal/dismissal.
Median time (Civil)	The average amount of time, in months, from a case's date of filing to the date of disposition.
Three-year civil cases	The number and percent of civil cases that were filed more than three years before the end of the given calendar year.
Vacant posts	The number of months during the year an authorized judgeship was vacant.
Trial/Post	The number of trials completed divided by the number of authorized judgeships on the court. Trials include evidentiary trials, hearings on temporary restraining orders, and preliminary injunctions.
Source: United States Courts, "Explanation of the Judicial Caseload Profiles for United States District Courts," accessed September 25, 2018

United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit caseload stats, 2010-2023
Year	Appeals Filed	Appeals Terminated	Pending Appeals	Terminations on the Merits (per Active Judge)	Procedural Terminations (per Active Judge)	Total Written Decisions (per Active Judge)	Number of Judgeships	Number of Sitting Senior Judges	Number of Vacant Judgeship Months	Median Time From Filing Notice of Appeal to Disposition
2010	1,530	1,600	1,306	415	82	154	6	2	3	12
2011	1,534	1,494	1,287	415	79	126	6	2	0	12
2012	1,549	1,560	1,241	491	60	154	6	3	12	11
2013	1,575	1,467	1,345	522	86	172	6	4	8	11
2014	1,413	1,297	1,469	420	50	123	6	4	5	12
2015	1,605	1,595	1,355	357	85	110	6	3	0	13
2016	1,573	1,443	1,482	426	51	132	6	3	0	11
2017	1,251	1,425	1,310	416	63	125	6	3	0	13
2018	1,178	1,132	1,361	322	40	102	6	3	0	13
2019	1,326	1,318	1,421	466	4	147	6	4	0	13
2020	1,238	1,237	1,430	407	7	139	6	4	2	13
2021	1,062	1,202	1,293	367	5	105	6	2	12	14
2022	1,031	1,005	1,324	226	16	66	6	5	9	14
2023	1,127	987	1,467	226	6	72	6	6	6	13
Average	1,357	1,340	1,364	391	45	123	6	3	4	13

History

First Circuit Court of Appeals (1891-present)

Congress established the U.S. circuit courts of appeals for nine judicial circuits in 1891. In 1905, an additional seat was added to the First Circuit and in 1915, the District of Puerto Rico was added to the First Circuit. Additional judicial seats were added in 1978 and two more in 1984.

Circuit Courts for the First Circuit (1802-1891)

The Evarts Act in 1891 added a fourth tier to the federal judiciary by establishing courts of appeals in each circuit. Circuit court judges were reassigned to the court of appeals. The Judicial Code of 1911 abolished the entire circuit court system and established the three-tiered judicial system that is in place today.

Circuit Court for the First Circuit (1801-1802)

The United States Circuit Court for the First Circuit was created by the Judiciary Act of 1801. Prior to this act, appeals were reviewed by a three-judge panel composed of two judges from the Supreme Court and the district court judge who had issued the decision being appealed. It provided the first circuit with three new judges. The act was repealed thirteen months later when a new Congressional majority took power. They returned to the previous system, with slight modifications to lighten the travel load of the Supreme Court Justices.

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the First Circuit:

Year	Statute	Total Seats
March 3, 1891	26 Stat. 826	2
January 21, 1905	33 Stat. 611	3
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	4
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	6

Reversal rate

See also: SCOTUS case reversal rates (2007 - Present)

Since 2007, SCOTUS has released opinions in 1,250 cases. Of those, it reversed a lower court decision 891 times (71.3 percent) while affirming a lower court decision 347 times (27.8 percent).

In that time period, SCOTUS has decided 37 cases originating from the First Circuit, affirming in 14 cases and reversing in 23 cases, for a reversal rate of 62.2 percent. As of the end of the 2023 term, of the Article III circuits—the ordinal circuits, the D.C. Circuit, and the Federal Circuit—the court with the lowest rate of overturned decisions is the Fourth Circuit at 62.1 percent.

Noteworthy cases

The following are noteworthy cases heard before this court. To suggest cases we should cover here, email us. To read opinions published by this court, click here.

• Freedom of Information Act request for Planned Parenthood grant documents rightfully denied (2015)

Click for summary→

The New Hampshire Right to Life organization filed a request to obtain documents from the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) regarding its approval of a 2011 grant to Planned Parenthood for family planning services. HHS claimed that it could find no other provider in the state of New Hampshire to provide these services. In the three-judge panel (William Kayatta, Jeffrey R. Howard and Juan Torruella) opinion, Judge William Kayatta of the First Circuit reasoned that, just because Planned Parenthood had no competition in the state when the grant was made in 2011, it does not follow that the organization has no competition now or will have none in the future. Further, the documents New Hampshire Right to Life requested dealt with Planned Parenthood’s commercial dealings and thus contained commercial information. To make these documents public would give Planned Parenthood’s competitors an unfair advantage, according to Judge Kayatta. Articles: Courthouse News, "1st Circuit tosses FOIA suit by anti-aboriton group," February 6, 2015 Top Secret Writers, "Federal court denies anti-abortion group FOIA request," February 19, 2015

• Judge rules there is no constitutional right to gay marriage (2014)

Click for summary→

Five same-sex couples filed a lawsuit in Puerto Rico, challenging laws in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico that define marriage as between one man and one woman. U.S. District Court Judge Juan Perez-Gimenez ruled in October 2014 that there is no constitutionally protected right to same-sex marriage. Perez-Gimenez said that the United States Supreme Court's decision in Windsor, the landmark case concerning the Defense of Marriage Act, reaffirmed that marriage is in the purview of the states, not the federal government, nor should the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico be forced to recognize same-sex marriages. Articles: New American, "Federal Judge Upholds Traditional Marriage in Puerto Rico," October 25, 2014 NE News Now, "Federal judge swims upstream: No constitutional right to gay 'marriage'," October 23, 2014

• Stolen gun liability case (2012)      Judge(s):Bruce Marshall Selya, Jeffrey R. Howard and O. Rogeriee Thompson (Jones v. Secord, 11-1576)	Click for summary→
On July 6, 2012, a three-judge panel for the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the ruling of Judge Paul Barbadoro of the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire, who held that a New Hampshire man could not be held liable for the use of his handgun in a violent crime. Gail Jones, the mother of the shooting victim, filed a lawsuit alleging that Lawrence Secord was liable for the use of his handgun by his grandson in an armed robbery that resulted in three fatalities in 2007. Secord's gun was stolen by his grandson, who broke into a locked summer cabin to obtain the firearm. Barbadoro agreed with Secord that he had taken proper precautions to secure his firearm. Judge Bruce Marshall Selya agreed with Barbadoro's decision and wrote the opinion of the panel. He stated in the opinion that "[t]he record here, even when construed in the light most flattering to the plaintiff, does not show either a particularized risk of harm or a degree of foreseeability sufficient to animate this exception." Jones told the press she brought the lawsuit to raise awareness of gun storage and risks, telling the press, "[f]irearms are very dangerous when they're in the wrong hands."

Before the U.S. Supreme Court

This section focuses on cases the U.S. Supreme Court heard that originated in this court. To suggest cases we should cover here, email us.

2024-2025 term

See also: Supreme Court cases, October term 2024-2025

The following case was scheduled for argument before the U.S. Supreme Court during the 2024-2025 term.

2024-2025 U.S. Supreme Court cases from the 1st Circuit
Case	Opinion author	Decision	Vote
Smith & Wesson Brands v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos	TBD	TBD	TBD

2023-2024 term

See also: Supreme Court cases, October term 2023-2024

The following case was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court during the 2023-2024 term.

2023-2024 U.S. Supreme Court cases from the 1st Circuit
Case	Opinion author	Decision	Vote
Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer	Amy Coney Barrett	vacated and remanded	9-0
Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce	John Roberts	vacated and remanded	6-3

2022-2023

See also: Supreme Court cases, October term 2022-2023

The following cases were scheduled for argument before the U.S. Supreme Court during the 2022-2023 term.

2022-2023 U.S. Supreme Court cases from the 1st Circuit
Case	Opinion author	Decision	Vote
Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard (Consolidated with Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina)	Chief Justice John Roberts	reversed	6-3
Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico v. Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, Inc.	Elena Kagan	reversed and remanded	8-1
Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Coughlin	Ketanji Brown Jackson	affirmed	8-1

2021-2022 term

See also: Supreme Court cases, October term 2021-2022

The following cases were heard before the U.S. Supreme Court during the 2021-2022 term.

2021-2022 U.S. Supreme Court cases from the 1st Circuit
Case	Opinion author	Decision	Vote
United States v. Vaello-Madero	Brett Kavanaugh	reversed	8-1
United States v. Tsarnaev	Clarence Thomas	reversed	6-3
Carson v. Makin	John Roberts	reversed and remanded	6-3
Concepcion v. United States	TBD	TBD	TBD
Shurtleff v. City of Boston	Stephen Breyer	reversed and remanded	9-0

2020-2021 term

See also: Supreme Court cases, October term 2020-2021

The following cases were heard before the U.S. Supreme Court during the 2020-2021 term.

2020-2021 U.S. Supreme Court cases from the 1st Circuit
Case	Opinion author	Decision	Vote
Caniglia v. Strom	Clarence Thomas	vacated and remanded	9-0

2019-2020 term

See also: Supreme Court cases, October term 2019-2020

The following cases were heard before the U.S. Supreme Court during the 2019-2020 term.

2019-2020 U.S. Supreme Court cases from the 1st Circuit
Case	Opinion author	Decision	Vote
Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico v. Aurelius Investment LLC (Consolidated with Aurelius Investment v. Puerto Rico, Official Committee of Debtors v. Aurelius Investment, United States v. Aurelius Investment, and UTIER v. Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico)	Stephen Breyer	reversed and remanded	9-0

Federal courthouse

The court is based at the John Joseph Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts. The court normally meets in Boston, but for two weeks each year it assembles in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, and occasionally at other locations within the circuit.

The John Joseph Moakley Federal Courthouse was designed by Henry Cobb, whose notable work includes Boston's John Hancock Tower and the headquarters for the International Monetary Fund in Washington D.C. Stephen Breyer led the architect selection process. Construction on the Moakley Federal Courthouse was finished in 1998. The building overlooks Boston Harbor, houses 27 courtrooms and is home to both the First Circuit and the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The dominant feature of the building is an 88-foot tall glass wall overlooking a park with views of downtown Boston and the Harbor. You can find directions to the courthouse on the official website, MoakleyCourthouse.com under the contact tab.

About United States Courts of Appeal

The United States courts of appeals (or circuit courts) are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal courts. The court of appeals was originally created in 1891 and has grown to include thirteen courts.

A court of appeals decides appeals from any of the district courts that are in its federal judicial circuit. The appeals courts also can hear appeals from some administrative agencies. Decisions of the federal appeals courts can, in turn, be appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States.

There are thirteen United States courts of appeals. In addition, there are other federal courts (such as the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, which hears appeals in court-martial cases) that have "Court of Appeals" in their titles.

The eleven "numbered" circuits and the D.C. Circuit are defined by geography. The thirteenth court of appeal is the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. This court has nationwide jurisdiction over certain types of appeals based on what the underlying legal case is about.

All of the courts of appeals also hear appeals from some administrative agency decisions and rulemaking. The largest share of this type of case is heard by the D.C. Circuit. The Federal Circuit hears appeals from specialized trial courts, primarily the Court of International Trade and the Court of Federal Claims, as well as appeals from the district courts in patent cases and certain other specialized matters.

Federal circuit court judges are appointed for life. They are paid approximately $179,500 annually. At the age of 65, a federal judge may choose to retire with his or her full salary. Judges may also choose to go on senior status at age 65, if they have served actively for 15 years.

Appointments by president

The chart below shows the number of appeals court judges confirmed by the U.S. Senate through March 1 of the first year of each president's term in office. At this point in the term, no president had made Article III judicial appointments.