Fifth Circuit District Courts

The United States courts of appeals are also popularly heralded as the circuit courts. They are the intermediate appellate courts of the federal court system of the United States. A court of appeals has jurisdiction rights over the appeals originating from the district courts that are under its governance. Sometimes, these courts also preside over appeals directed from selected federal courts and administrative entities. There are currently 13 courts of appeals in United States. They are numbered, geographically delineated, and have the phrase "Court of Appeals" as part of their titles.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is a federal court. It wields appellate jurisdiction over the district courts of these three districts: the Eastern, Middle, and Western districts of Louisiana, the Northern and Southern districts of Mississippi, and the Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western districts of Texas. The 5th Circuit District Court is served by 17 judges and operates out of the John Minor Wisdom U.S. Courthouse in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Find a Particular Fifth District Court

Know the judicial powers of the Fifth Circuit District Court so that you know where to knock for justice.

The Fifth Circuit District Courts are general trial courts that are within the ambit of the federal court machinery. They are empowered to try both civil and criminal cases. They are regarded as courts of law, admiralty, and equality and have come into being by Congress judiciary acts. These circuit district courts possess original judicial rights to all civil deeds that are ruled by the Constitution and federal and state laws; civil acts where United States is one of the parties involved; civil actions that are under the aegis of admiralty or maritime jurisdiction of the United States; and criminal cases triggered by the government of United States. They also have appellate judicial rights over a restricted category of decrees, judgments, and orders.

Appeals for the cases that arise in the Fifth Circuit District Courts, except patent claims and charges against the United States government that are ruled by the Tucker Act, are presided over by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

The Louisiana District Court for the Eastern District has its headquarters in New Orleans. The district court for the Middle District is based in Baton Rouge while the Western District Court holds its session in Alexandria, Lake Charles, Lafayette, Shreveport, and Monroe.

The Mississippi District Court for the Northern District court holds federal sessions in the courthouses of Ackerman, Aberdeen, Cleveland, Clarksdale, Corinth, Oxford, and Greenville. The district court sessions of the Southern District of Mississippi are held in Jackson, Biloxi, Vicksburg, and Hattiesburg.

Texas is divided into the Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western districts. The Texas District Court for the Eastern District is based in Tyler with five sub-divisions at Lufkin, Beaumont, Sherman, Marshall, and Texarkana. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas has its headquarters in Dallas, with sub-divisions at Abilene, Amarillo, Fort Worth, Lubbock, San Angelo, and Wichita Falls. The Texas District Court for the Southern District operates out of Houston.