Courts of Last Resort

The federal courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts between the trial courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. Appellate courts are the last resort for most litigants, deciding more than 31,700 cases a year, compared with just 75 or so decided annually by the Supreme Court. The impact of President Bush's judicial appointments is most often noticed at the Supreme Court, but it has played out more frequently and importantly in the nation's 13 Circuit Courts of Appeals, where his choices have created Republican- appointed majorities in three more courts.

[Chart: The wedge shows the total gain in Bush appointees on each appellate court since 2001.]

SOURCE: Public Records | GRAPHIC: Karen Yourish, Todd Lindeman, Laris Karklis, The Washington Post - December 8, 2008

This Story The Politics of the Federal Bench Article \| CINCINNATI -- In June 2005, two federal appellate judges here ordered Joseph Arnold released from a 21-year prison sentence after ruling that there was no credible evidence he had threatened to shoot his girlfriend's daughter with a pistol. A Bench More White, Male and Conservative The Politics of the Federal Bench Courts of Last Resort		TOOLBOX E-Mail This Save/Share + Digg Facebook Reddit Twitter myspace SOURCE: Public Records \| GRAPHIC: Karen Yourish, Todd Lindeman, Laris Karklis, The Washington Post - December 8, 2008 ¬es=The federal courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts between the trial courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. Appellate courts are the last resort for most litigants, deciding more than 31,700 cases a year, compared with just 75 or so decided annually by the Supreme Court. The impact of President Bush's judicial appointments is most often noticed at the Supreme Court, but it has played out more frequently and importantly in the nation's 13 Circuit Courts of Appeals, where his choices have created Republican- appointed majorities in three more courts." onclick="if ( typeof otto != 'undefined' ) { }" onmouseover="changebg2('delicious')" onmouseout="resetbg2('delicious')" target="new">del.icio.us SOURCE: Public Records \| GRAPHIC: Karen Yourish, Todd Lindeman, Laris Karklis, The Washington Post - December 8, 2008 \'),\'newstrust\'+(new Date()).getMilliseconds(),\'dependent=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,alwaysRaised=yes,status=yes,directories=yes,location=yes,menubar=yes,toolbar=yes,width=430,height=750,modal=no\'));ntw.focus();'" onclick="if ( typeof otto != 'undefined' ) { }" onmouseover="changebg2('newstrust')" onmouseout="resetbg2('newstrust')">NewsTrust Stumble It! COMMENT 0 Comments Your browser's settings may be preventing you from commenting on and viewing comments about this item. See instructions for fixing the problem. Discussion Policy CLOSE Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post. Who's Blogging » Links to this graphic
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