A map of U.S. circuit courts divides the country into 13 federal appellate jurisdictions: 11 numbered regional circuits that each cover a group of states, the District of Columbia Circuit for the capital, and the Federal Circuit, which hears specialized cases from anywhere in the country. The circuit covering your state is where a federal appeal from your district court goes, and its rulings are binding law for every federal trial court within its borders.
Which Circuit Covers Your State
The eleven numbered circuits are set by 28 U.S.C. § 41.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 41 – Number and Composition of Circuits They generally run east to west, in roughly the order Congress created them as the country expanded.
- First Circuit: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island
- Second Circuit: Connecticut, New York, Vermont
- Third Circuit: Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virgin Islands
- Fourth Circuit: Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia
- Fifth Circuit: Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas
- Sixth Circuit: Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee
- Seventh Circuit: Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin
- Eighth Circuit: Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota
- Ninth Circuit: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, plus Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands
- Tenth Circuit: Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming
- Eleventh Circuit: Alabama, Florida, Georgia
The Ninth Circuit is by far the largest, reaching from the Canadian border to the Pacific islands and covering roughly 20 percent of the U.S. population. The First Circuit is the smallest, with five jurisdictions. The Northern Mariana Islands is not named directly in § 41 but was assigned to the Ninth Circuit by a 1977 act of Congress.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 48 U.S. Code 1821 – District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands
The Two Circuits That Don’t Appear on the Map
Two circuits sit outside the regional system. The District of Columbia Circuit covers only the capital, but because federal agencies are headquartered there, challenges to rules from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and others frequently land in that court. Its geography is small; its influence over federal regulatory law is not.
The Federal Circuit has nationwide reach over specific categories of cases rather than a territory. Congress created it in 1982 by merging the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals with the appellate division of the Court of Claims.3Federal Judicial Center. Landmark Legislation: Federal Circuit Under 28 U.S.C. § 1295, it hears appeals in patents, international trade, government contracts, certain tax matters, and claims for money damages against the federal government, among other specialized areas.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1295 – Jurisdiction of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit A patent infringement appeal from a Delaware district court and one from a California district court both go to the Federal Circuit.
Why Your Circuit Matters
Circuit boundaries carry weight. A Fifth Circuit ruling is binding law in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, and nowhere else. District courts within a circuit have to follow that circuit’s precedent. District courts outside it can read the reasoning, but they are free to decide differently.
So the same federal statute can be read one way in the Second Circuit and the opposite way in the Ninth. These disagreements, known as circuit splits, are one of the main reasons the Supreme Court agrees to take a case. For almost every federal litigant, though, the circuit court is the end of the road.
Appeal Deadlines Run Fast
The window for appealing a federal judgment is short. In civil cases, a notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days after the district court enters its judgment.5Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure Rule 4 – Appeal as of Right – When Taken In criminal cases, defendants get 14 days. When the United States is a party to a civil case, the deadline extends to 60 days for everyone.
The clock starts the day judgment is entered on the district court’s docket, not the day you receive a copy. Courts treat these deadlines as jurisdictional in most situations, meaning a late notice of appeal is usually dismissed no matter how strong the underlying case was.
If You File in the Wrong Circuit
A filing error about which court has jurisdiction does not automatically end the case. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1631, if a federal court finds it lacks jurisdiction, it “shall, if it is in the interest of justice, transfer such action or appeal” to a court that does.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1631 – Transfer to Cure Want of Jurisdiction After transfer, the case is treated as if it had been filed in the correct court on the original filing date, which protects a litigant from losing a deadline.
Courts keep discretion to dismiss instead of transferring when the circumstances don’t warrant it, for example if filing in the wrong court was deliberate rather than a mistake. The default under the statute is transfer.
Filing Fee and Fee Waivers
Filing a notice of appeal in any federal circuit court costs $605, covering both the filing fee and the docketing fee. The amount has been in effect since December 2023 and is set by the Judicial Conference of the United States. The fee is paid to the district court where the notice of appeal is filed, not to the circuit court.
The filing fee is a small share of what an appeal actually costs. Trial transcripts prepared by court reporters run several dollars per page, and a long trial can produce thousands of pages. Attorney fees for briefing and oral argument are typically the largest line item.
If you cannot afford the filing fee, you can ask the court to waive it by moving to proceed in forma pauperis, supported by an affidavit about your finances.7Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure Rule 24 – Proceeding in Forma Pauperis If the district court already granted that status during the trial, it carries over to the appeal unless the court finds the appeal is not taken in good faith. If the district court denies the motion, you have 30 days to ask the circuit court directly.
How a Circuit Court Decides an Appeal
After a district court issues a final judgment, the losing party can ask the circuit court covering that district to review it. Appeals are typically heard by a randomly selected panel of three judges, and the panel’s ruling becomes binding law for every district court within the circuit.
Each circuit also keeps local rules that sit on top of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, governing matters like brief formatting and oral argument scheduling.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC App Fed R App P Rule 47 – Local Rules by Courts of Appeals A court can penalize repeated violations, but it cannot strip a party of substantive rights over an unintentional formatting error. Check the local rules of the circuit covering your state before you file.