United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (1st Cir.)
Location	John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse Boston, Massachusetts
Appeals from	District of Maine District of Massachusetts District of New Hampshire District of Puerto Rico District of Rhode Island
Established	June 16, 1891
Chief judge	Sandra Lynch
Active judges	6
Senior judges	3 & Retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court David Souter
Official site

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (in case citations, 1st Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:

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

The court is based at the John Joseph Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts. Most sittings are held in Boston, where the court sits for one week most months of the year. The First Circuit also sits for one week each in March and November at the Jose V. Toledo Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, and occasionally sits at other locations within the circuit.

With six active and three senior judges, the First Circuit is the smallest of the thirteen United States courts of appeals. Since retiring as an active Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Associate Justice David Souter has sat on the First Circuit by designation in several cases.

Current composition of the court

Active

As of February 14, 2013 (2013-02-14), the active judges on the court are as follows:

#	Judge	Duty station	Born	Appointed	Chief	Appointed by
27	Sandra Lynch	Boston, MA	1946	1995	2008–	Clinton
21	Juan R. Torruella	San Juan, PR	1933	1984	1994–2001	Reagan
25	Michael Boudin	Boston, MA	1939	1992	2001–2008	G.H.W. Bush
29	Jeffrey R. Howard	Concord, NH	1955	2002	——	G.W. Bush
30	O. Rogeriee Thompson	Providence, RI	1951	2010	——	Obama
31	William J. Kayatta, Jr.	Portland, ME	1953	2013	——	Obama

On March 22, 2013 Judge Michael Boudin announced that he would be assuming senior status on June 1, 2013. There is no nominee pending.

Senior

Three judges currently serve on the court on senior status and retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter has sat by designation.

#	Judge	Duty station	Born	Active service	Chief	Senior since	Appointed by
18	Levin H. Campbell	(inactive)	1927	1972–1992	1983–1990	1992	Nixon
22	Bruce M. Selya	Providence, RI	1934	1986–2006	——	2006	Reagan
23	Conrad K. Cyr	(inactive)	1931	1989–1997	——	1997	G.H.W. Bush
26	Norman H. Stahl	Boston, MA	1931	1992–2001	——	2001	G.H.W. Bush
28	Kermit Lipez	Portland, ME	1941	1998–2011	——	2011	Clinton

List of former judges

Twenty judges have served on the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, but no longer do:

#	Judge	State	Born/Died	Active	Chief	Senior	Appointed by	Reason for termination
1	Colt, LeBaron B.LeBaron B. Colt	RI	1846–1924	1891–1913	——	——	Arthur	resignation
2	Putnam, William LeBaronWilliam LeBaron Putnam	ME	1835–1918	1892–1917	——	——	Harrison, B.B. Harrison	retirement
3	Lowell, Francis CabotFrancis Cabot Lowell	MA	1855–1911	1905–1911	——	——	T. RooseveltT. Roosevelt	death
4	Schofield, WilliamWilliam Schofield	MA	1857–1912	1911–1912	——	——	Taft, Taft	death
5	Dodge, FredericFrederic Dodge	MA	1847–1927	1912–1918	——	——	Taft, Taft	resignation
6	Bingham, George HutchinsGeorge Hutchins Bingham	NH	1864–1949	1913–1939	——	1939–1949	Wilson, Wilson	death
7	Johnson, Charles FletcherCharles Fletcher Johnson	ME	1859–1930	1917–1929	——	1929–1930	Wilson, Wilson	death
8	Anderson, George WestonGeorge Weston Anderson	MA	1861–1938	1918–1931	——	1931–1938	Wilson, Wilson	death
9	Wilson, ScottScott Wilson	ME	1870–1942	1929–1940	——	1940–1942	Hoover, Hoover	death
10	Morton, Jr., James MadisonJames Madison Morton, Jr.	MA	1869–1940	1932–1939	——	1939–1940	Hoover, Hoover	death
11	Magruder, CalvertCalvert Magruder	MA	1893–1968	1939–1959	1948–1959	1959–1968	Roosevelt, F.F. Roosevelt	death
12	Mahoney, John ChristopherJohn Christopher Mahoney	RI	1882–1952	1940–1950	——	1950–1952	Roosevelt, F.F. Roosevelt	death
13	Woodbury, PeterPeter Woodbury	NH	1899–1970	1941–1964	1959–1964	1964–1970	Roosevelt, F.F. Roosevelt	death
14	Hartigan, John PatrickJohn Patrick Hartigan	RI	1887–1968	1950–1965	——	1965–1968	Truman Truman	death
15	Aldrich, BaileyBailey Aldrich	MA	1907–2002	1959–1972	1965–1972	1972–2002	Eisenhower, Eisenhower	death
16	McEntee, Edward MatthewEdward Matthew McEntee	RI	1906–1981	1965–1976	——	1976–1981	Johnson, L.L. Johnson	death
17	Coffin, Frank M.Frank M. Coffin	ME	1919–2009	1965–1989	1972–1983	1989–2009	Johnson, L.L. Johnson	death
19	Bownes, Hugh HenryHugh Henry Bownes	NH	1920–2003	1977–1990	——	1990–2003	Carter, Carter	death
20	Breyer, StephenStephen Breyer	MA	1938–	1980–1994	1990–1994	——	Carter, Carter	elevation to Supreme Court
24	Souter, DavidDavid Souter	NH	1939–	1990	——	——	Bush, G.H.W.G.H.W. Bush	elevation to Supreme Court

Chief judges

Chief Judges Magruder 1948–1959 Woodbury 1959–1964 Aldrich 1965–1972 Coffin 1972–1983 Campbell 1983–1990 Breyer 1990–1994 Torruella 1994–2001 Boudin 2001–2008 Lynch

Chief judges have administrative responsibilities with respect to their circuits, and preside over any panel on which they serve unless the circuit justice (i.e., the Supreme Court justice responsible for the circuit) is also on the panel. Unlike the Supreme Court, where one justice is specifically nominated to be chief, the office of chief judge rotates among the circuit judges. To be chief, a judge must have been in active service on the court for at least one year, be under the age of 65, and have not previously served as chief judge. A vacancy is filled by the judge highest in seniority among the group of qualified judges. The chief judge serves for a term of seven years or until age 70, whichever occurs first. The age restrictions are waived if no members of the court would otherwise be qualified for the position.

When the office was created in 1948, the chief judge was the longest-serving judge who had not elected to retire on what has since 1958 been known as senior status or declined to serve as chief judge. After August 6, 1959, judges could not become chief after turning 70 years old. The current rules have been in operation since October 1, 1982.

Succession of seats

The court has six seats for active judges, numbered in the order in which they were filled. Judges who retire into senior status remain on the bench but leave their seat vacant. That seat is filled by the next circuit judge appointed by the president.

Seat 1 Established on December 10, 1869 by the Judiciary Act of 1869 as a circuit judgeship for the First Circuit Reassigned on June 16, 1891 to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the First Circuit by the Judiciary Act of 1891 Colt RI 1891–1913 Bingham NH 1913–1939 Magruder MA 1939–1959 Aldrich MA 1959–1972 Campbell MA 1972–1992 Boudin MA 1992–present

Seat 2 Established on June 16, 1891 by the Judiciary Act of 1891 Putnam ME 1892–1917 Johnson ME 1917–1929 Wilson ME 1929–1940 Woodbury NH 1941–1964 McEntee RI 1965–1976 Bownes NH 1977–1990 Souter NH 1990–1990 Stahl NH 1992–2001 Howard NH 2002–present

Seat 3 Established on January 21, 1905 by 33 Stat. 611 Lowell MA 1905–1911 Schofield MA 1911–1912 Dodge MA 1912–1918 Anderson MA 1918–1931 Morton MA 1932–1939 Mahoney RI 1940–1950 Hartigan RI 1950–1965 Coffin ME 1965–1989 Cyr ME 1989–1997 Lipez ME 1998–2011 Kayatta ME 2013–present

Seat 4 Established on October 20, 1978 by 92 Stat. 1629 Breyer MA 1980–1994 Lynch MA 1995–present

Seat 5 Established on July 10, 1984 by 98 Stat. 333 Torruella PR 1984–present

Seat 6 Established on July 10, 1984 by 98 Stat. 333 Selya RI 1986–2006 Thompson RI 2010–present

Notable decisions

• West v. Randall (1820), one of the first decisions setting precedent for class action suits

See also

• Federal judicial appointment history#First Circuit
• Courts of the United States
• List of United States federal courthouses in the First Circuit

References

Specific

General

• Dargo, George (1993). A History of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit: Volume I, 1891–1960. 

External links

• United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
• Recent opinions from Findlaw
• United States Courts for the First Circuit. "2002 Annual Report". Archived from the original on Oct. 15, 2004.