The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is located at 600 S Maestri Place, New Orleans, LA 70130-3408. The main phone number of the clerk's office is 504-310-7700. This appellate court hears criminal and civil appeals filed from within nine different districts.

The districts included in the jurisdiction for the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals are: the Northern District of Texas, Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Southern District of Texas, Western District of Louisiana, Eastern District of Louisiana, Middle District of Louisiana, Southern District of Mississippi and Northern District of Mississippi.

This court has 17 active judges, one of which also serves as chief judge. This is a position that is largely responsible for administrative duties and is rotated among active judges. Requirements for becoming a chief judge include that a judge must serve at least seven years or reach the age of 70. This rule is waived if no active judge meets this requirement. When an active judge retires and becomes a senior judge, the President appoints a new judge to fill the vacant seat.

The homepage of the Fifth Judicial Circuit's website is found at http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/. This site allows visitors to access court calendars, rules and orders of the court, fees and forms, notices for attorneys and electronic filing tools.

Opinions can be searched online at http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/Opinions.aspx. You may search by case title, docket number and/or date of an opinion being published. Visitors also have the option of subscribing to opinions so that they can stay abreast of the most recent decisions of the court.

If you are searching for case records, you'll need to log into PACER at https://ecf.ca5.uscourts.gov/cmecf/servlet/TransportRoom?servlet=CaseSearch.jsp.