United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is one of the 13 appeals courts in the United States's federal court system.  In case citations, the Court's name is abbreviated "5th Cir."

The 5th Circuit
The Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit is the appeals court that has jurisdiction, or legal power, to review cases decided by less powerful courts in the 5th Circuit.  These less powerful courts are called United States district courts.  They are federal trial courts.  If someone wants to appeal a decision that one of these courts made, they would have to appeal to the Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.

These are the United States District Courts that are located in the 5th Circuit:

 Eastern District of Louisiana
 Middle District of Louisiana
 Western District of Louisiana
 Northern District of Mississippi
 Southern District of Mississippi
 Eastern District of Texas
 Northern District of Texas
 Southern District of Texas
 Western District of Texas

The Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit handles appeals from every one of these District Courts.

The Court
The Court has 17 judges.  The main court building is located in the John Minor Wisdom United States Court of Appeals Building in New Orleans, Louisiana.  The court clerk's office is at the Felix Edward Hébert Federal Building in New Orleans.

The Court met for the first time on June 16, 1891, in the Customs House in New Orleans.

 Famous decisions 
The Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit decided a landmark case called Gates v. Collier, which stopped the severe physical abuse of prisoners by "trustys" at Mississippi State Penitentiary (then called Parchman).Gates v. Collier, 501 F.2d 1291 (5th Cir. 1974).

Related pages
 Federal judiciary of the United States (the entire federal court system)
 United States Supreme Court
 United States courts of appeals
 United States district courts
 Gates v. Collier

References

Category:United States courts of appeals
Category:1891 establishments in the United States
Category:1891 establishments in Texas
Category:19th-century establishments in Louisiana
Category:1890s establishments in Mississippi