United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
current United States federal appellate court
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. courts of appeals, and it covers only the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It meets at the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse in Washington, DC.
The D.C. Circuit is often considered to be second only to the U.S. Supreme Court in status and prestige. It is sometimes unofficially termed "the second highest court in the land", even though it is officially no higher than the other twelve courts of appeals. Because its jurisdiction covers the District of Columbia, it tends to be the main federal appellate court for issues of U.S. administrative law and constitutional law. Four of the nine current Supreme Court justices were previously judges on the D.C. Circuit: Chief Justice John Roberts and associate justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Past justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, Warren E. Burger, Fred M. Vinson, and Wiley Blount Rutledge also served on the D.C. Circuit before their appointments to the Supreme Court.
Because the D.C. Circuit does not represent any U.S. states, confirming D.C. Circuit nominees can be procedurally and practically easier than confirming nominees to other circuits, because home-state senators have historically been able to hold up confirmation through the blue slip process.
Current composition of the court
As of January 16, 2024:
List of former judges
Chiefs
When Congress established this court in 1893 as the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, it had a chief justice, and the other judges were called associate justices, which was similar to the structure of the Supreme Court. The chief justiceship was a separate seat: the president would appoint the chief justice, and that person would stay chief justice until he left the court.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit” is current United States federal appellate court. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through United, States and Court, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “current United States federal appellate court” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2918178. The Library of Congress control number is n80001211. Authority coordinates are 38.893, -77.016. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2024 and 1893.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit primary sources, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit archive and United research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.