Covering the Courts:
An Associated Press Manual for Reporters

Chapter 4: FEDERAL APPEALS COURTS

Federal appeals courts yield news, and court reporters should know the best way to anticipate, gather and report it. 

Like most state court systems, the federal judiciary has three tiers. All litigation begins at a trial-court level, in one of 94 U.S. District Courts. Most states have one multi-judge federal trial court. North Carolina has three judicial districts. 

A litigant who loses in U.S. District Court has a right to appeal to a second-tier court, or U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. There are 13 such courts - 12 have jurisdiction over cases from certain geographic areas and one has national jurisdiction over specific types of cases. 

Although issues of state law can wind up in federal courts (if the two sides are not from the same state), the typical federal court fare are disputes over the meaning and impact of federal statutes or provisions of the federal Constitution. 

The 12 geographic circuits and the states they encompass: 

• District of Columbia 
• 1^st (based in Boston) - Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Puerto Rico. 
• 2^nd (based in New York City) - Connecticut, New York, Vermont. 
• 3^rd (based in Philadelphia) - Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virgin Islands. 
• 4^th (based in Richmond) - Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia. 
• 5^th (based in New Orleans) - Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Canal Zone. 
• 6^th (based in Cincinnati) - Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee. 
• 7^th (based in Chicago) - Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin. 
• 8^th (based in St. Louis) - Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota. 
• 9^th (based in San Francisco) - Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Guam. 
• 10^th (based in Denver) - Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming. 
• 11^th (based in Atlanta) - Alabama, Florida, Georgia. 

The Supreme Court sits atop the pyramid, and hears cases from any of the federal appeals courts as well as from the top court in each of the 50 states. Of the tens of thousands of cases decided each year by federal appeals courts, fewer than 1 percent are appealed to the Supreme Court. And nation's highest court accepts for review a tiny fraction of the cases that reach it. 

The mathematics add up to one inescapable fact -- federal appeals courts have an enormously important role in defining American law and shaping American life. 

Federal courts each year handle a fraction of the cases handled by the 50 state court systems combined. Nevertheless, the federal caseload is formidable and presents the continuing challenge of culling the newsworthy from the mundane. 

Here are some recommendations aimed at maximizing efficiency: 

1. Stay current on the changing technology of how the appeals courts make their rulings publicly accessible. For bureaus hardpressed to get a body to the courthouse regularly, the Internet may provide the solution. 

   Rulings from the 4th Circuit court in Richmond are published at the Emory School of Law's Web site (http://www.law.emory.edu/4circuit/). But they are not published on the same day

   Some of the federal appeals courts have their own websites and anticipate using them to offer instant access to published decisions. Every federal circuit court is featured on some internet website, but not all offer same-day access to decisions and orders. 

   A possible solution is the PACER court system, which allows Internet and dial-up modem access.  Many of the circuit courts are on line.  There is no charge to subscribe but there are charges associated with downloading information. 

   To subscribe, or to inquire about the service provided, call 800-676-6856. 

2. If you routinely cover a federal appeals court, consider maintaining a file of stories about high-profile rulings. 

   
   

3. Develop sources who can help explain a decision's rationale and impact. Judicial opinions can be muddy or muddled, and no one connected with the appeals court -- judges included -- will answer questions about a just-released opinion. The lawyers on either side of the dispute are knowledgeable but hardly unbiased. 

   
   Many prominent lawyers are media-friendly, and are more than willing to share their opinion on disputes that arise in their field of expertise. Law professors are the best bet. Many universities publish source books to promote their faculty, including law school professors, as expert commentators. It would be worthwhile to call prominent law schools in the relevant judicial circuit and elicit their help in compiling an expert-source list. Remember, a professor who teaches real estate law is not going to be much help in discussing the death penalty, and vice versa. 
    

4. Get to know some of the people who work for the appeals court. Some circuit courts employ assistant circuit executives whose main duty is to interact with the news media. 

   
   At all federal circuit courts, key employees include the chief judge, circuit executive and clerk. A solid relationship with the court's chief judge, for example, could ensure that a reporter's concerns carry a certain priority with court employees who control the flow of public information. On occasion, an appeals court can make big news without issuing a decision, but instead by issuing an order. Knowing clerk's office personnel and their particular jobs, can help track such information. 

   Federal appeals courts do most of their work in three-judge panels but also on occasion review cases "en banc" -- with all judges participating. 

   Some appeals courts can take on the personalities - the ideologies, tendencies - of the judges named to them. For example, appointments by Republican presidential administrations over a 12-year span before 1992 made the Richmond-based 4th Circuit court one of the nation's most politically conservative tribunals. That conservatism is reflected in many of the decisions coming from that court. 

Glossary