U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is one of the thirteen U.S. courts of appeals, the intermediate appellate tier of the federal judiciary. It hears appeals from the federal district courts within the First Circuit, which covers Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Puerto Rico. Its decisions bind those courts unless reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States.
| Judge | Appointed by | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Levin Hicks Campbell | Nixon (R) | 1972 |
| Sandra Lea Lynch | Clinton (D) | 1995 |
| Kermit Victor Lipez | Clinton (D) | 1998 |
| Jeffrey R. Howard | Bush (R) | 2002 |
| Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson | Obama (D) | 2010 |
| William Joseph Kayatta Jr. | Obama (D) | 2013 |
| David Jeremiah Barron | Obama (D) | 2014 |
| Gustavo Antonio Gelpí Jr. | Biden (D) | 2021 |
| Lara Elizabeth Montecalvo | Biden (D) | 2022 |
| Julie Rikelman | Biden (D) | 2023 |
| Seth Robert Aframe | Biden (D) | 2024 |
| Joshua Dale Dunlap | Trump (R) | 2025 |
| Judge | Appointed by | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Michael Boudin | Bush (R) | 1992–2021 |
| Norman H. Stahl | Bush (R) | 1992–2023 |
| David Hackett Souter | Bush (R) | 1990–1990 |
| Conrad Keefe Cyr | Bush (R) | 1989–2016 |
| Bruce Marshall Selya | Reagan (R) | 1986–2025 |
| Juan R. Torruella | Reagan (R) | 1984–2020 |
| Stephen Gerald Breyer | Carter (D) | 1980–1994 |
| Hugh Henry Bownes | Carter (D) | 1977–2003 |
| Frank Morey Coffin | Johnson (D) | 1965–2009 |
| Edward Matthew McEntee | Johnson (D) | 1965–1981 |
| Bailey Aldrich | Eisenhower (R) | 1959–2002 |
| John Patrick Hartigan | Truman (D) | 1951–1968 |
| Peter Woodbury | Roosevelt (D) | 1941–1970 |
| John Christopher Mahoney | Roosevelt (D) | 1940–1952 |
| Calvert Magruder | Roosevelt (D) | 1939–1968 |
| James Madison Morton Jr. | Hoover (R) | 1932–1940 |
| Scott Wilson | Hoover (R) | 1929–1942 |
| George Weston Anderson | Wilson (D) | 1918–1938 |
| Charles Fletcher Johnson | Wilson (D) | 1917–1930 |
| George Hutchins Bingham | Wilson (D) | 1913–1949 |
| Frederic Dodge | Taft (R) | 1912–1918 |
| William Schofield | Taft (R) | 1911–1912 |
| Francis Cabot Lowell | Roosevelt (R) | 1905–1911 |
| William LeBaron Putnam | Harrison (R) | 1892–1917 |
| LeBaron Bradford Colt | (assignment) (N) | 1891–1913 |
The federal trial courts whose appeals this circuit reviews.
How a judge gets here. Each judge is nominated by a president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, then holds a numbered seat, for life, until they take senior status, or until they leave the bench. Open any judge to see who appointed them, how the Senate voted, and whom they succeeded, a chain that runs back to 1891.
Source: FJC Biographical Directory. Data last verified 2026-06-28. Verify against the primary source before relying.