U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth 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 Ninth Circuit, which covers Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Guam and Northern Mariana Islands. Its decisions bind those courts unless reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States.

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.