District of Columbia Court of Appeals

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals is the highest court of the District of Columbia. Established in 1970, it is equivalent to a state supreme court, except that its authority is derived from the United States Congress rather than from the inherent sovereignty of the states. The court is located in the former District of Columbia City Hall building at Judiciary Square. The D.C. Court of Appeals should not be confused with the District's federal appellate court, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The D.C. Court of Appeals and the Superior Court of the District of Columbia comprise the District's local court system.

Not to be confused with United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals is located in the former D.C. City Hall, a National Historic Landmark.
Established	1970
Location	District of Columbia City Hall, Judiciary Square, Washington, DC
Composition method	Presidential nomination with Senate confirmation
Authorized by	Derived from the United States Congress
Appeals to	Supreme Court of the United States (in matters of federal law only)
Judge term length	15 years
Number of positions	9
Website	DCCourts.gov
Chief judge
Currently	Anna Blackburne-Rigsby
Since	March 17, 2017 (2017-03-17)

Powers

As the court of last resort for the District of Columbia, the Court of Appeals is authorized to review all final orders, judgments, and specified interlocutory orders of the associate judges of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, as well as decisions of certain D.C. agencies. The court also has jurisdiction to review decisions of administrative agencies, boards, and commissions of the District government, as well as to answer questions of law presented by the Supreme Court of the United States, a United States court of appeals, or the highest appellate court of any state. As authorized by Congress, the court reviews proposed rules of the trial court and develops its own rules for proceedings.

Cases before the court are determined by randomly selected three-judge divisions, unless a hearing or rehearing before the court sitting en banc (with all judges present) is ordered. A hearing or rehearing before the court sitting en banc may be ordered by a majority of the judges in regular active service, generally only when consideration by the full court is necessary to maintain uniformity of its decisions, or when the case involves a question of exceptional importance. The en banc court consists of the nine judges of the court in regular active service, except that a retired judge may sit to rehear a case or controversy if he or she heard the original hearing. The Chief Judge may designate and assign temporarily one or more judges of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to serve on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals when required.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals Associate Judge Kathryn A. Oberly observes as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is sworn to office, while Bill Clinton holds the Bible.
(January 21, 2009)

Members of the court are empowered to adjudicate the oath of office ceremony for the executive cabinet of the President.

In the exercise of its inherent power over members of the legal profession, the court established the District of Columbia Bar and has the power to approve the rules governing attorney disciplinary proceedings. The court also reviews the rules of professional conduct and has established rules governing the admission of members of the District of Columbia Bar and the resolution of complaints concerning the unauthorized practice of law in the District of Columbia.

Judges

The court consists of a chief judge and eight associate judges. The court is assisted by the service of retired judges who have been recommended and approved as senior judges. Despite being the District's local appellate court, judges are appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate for 15-year terms.[1]

Active judges

As of January 6, 2020:

Judge	First term began	Current term ends	Chief
Anna Blackburne-Rigsby[2]	November 17, 2006[3]	2021	March 18, 2017[4] – present
Stephen H. Glickman[5]	1999[5]	2029	——
John R. Fisher[6]	January 6, 2006[7]	2021	——
Phyllis D. Thompson[8]	2006[8]	2021	——
Corinne A. Beckwith[9]	December 2011	2026	——
Catharine F. Easterly[10]	February 10, 2012	2027	——
Roy W. McLeese III[11]	September 21, 2012	2027	——
Joshua Deahl	January 6, 2020	2035	——
vacant	——	——	——

Senior judges

The senior judges are Eric T. Washington, Frank Q. Nebeker, John M. Ferren, John M. Steadman, and Vanessa Ruiz.[12]

Vacancies and pending nominations

Seat	Seat last held by	Vacancy reason	Date of vacancy	Nominee	Date of nomination
—	Kathryn A. Oberly	Retirement	November 1, 2013	John P. Howard III	June 25, 2020
—	John R. Fisher		August 22, 2020[13]	Vijay Shanker

Former judges

Judge	Born–died	Active service	Chief Judge	Senior status	Appointed by	Reason for termination
Catherine B. Kelly	1917–1995	1967–1983	–	–	Lyndon B. Johnson	Resignation
Austin L. Fickling	1914–1977	1968–1977				Death
John W. Kern III	1928–2018	1968–1984		1984–2012		Retirement
George R. Gallagher	1915–2007	1968–1981		1981–2001		Retirement
Hubert Pair	1904–1999	1970–1974		1975–1988	Richard Nixon	Death
Gerard D. Reilly	1906–1995	1970–1976	1972–1976	1976–1995		Death
J. Walter Yeagley	1909–1990	1970–1979	–	1979–1984		Retirement
Stanley S. Harris	1927–present	1972–1982		–		Appointed United States Attorney for the District of Columbia
Julia Cooper Mack	1920–2014	1975–1989		1989–2001	Gerald Ford	Retirement
Theodore R. Newman Jr.	1934–present	1976–1991	1976–1984	1991–2016		Retirement
William C. Pryor	1932–present	1979–1988	1984–1988	1988–2019	Jimmy Carter	Retirement
James A. Belson	1931–present	1981–1991	–	1991–2017	Ronald Reagan	Retirement
John A. Terry	1933–present	1982–2006		2006–2016		Retirement
Judith W. Rogers	1939–present	1983–1994	1988–1994	–		Appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Frank E. Schwelb	1932–2014	1988–2006	–	2006–2014		Retirement
Michael W. Farrell	1938–present	1989–2008	–	2009–2019	George H. W. Bush	Retirement
Annice M. Wagner	1937–present	1990–2005	1994–2005	2005–2013		Retirement
Emmet G. Sullivan	1947–present	1991–1994	–	–		Appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Warren R. King	1937–present	1991–1998		1998–2016		Retirement
Inez Smith Reid	1937–present	1995–2011		2011–2017	Bill Clinton	Retirement
Noël A. Kramer	1945–2018	2005–2011		–	George W. Bush	Retirement
Kathryn A. Oberly	1950–present	2009–2013				Resignation

See also

• Superior Court of the District of Columbia
• United States District Court for the District of Columbia

References

1. "Judicial Selection in the States: District of Columbia". American Judicature Society. Retrieved 2012-09-12.
2. Official Bio of Judge Blackburne-Rigsby
3. Former Superior Court Judge to become Judge on D.C. Court of Appeals
4. Judge Blackburne-Rigsby Named Chief Judge of the D.C. Court of Appeals
5. "Official Bio of Judge Glickman" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-06-14.
6. "Official Bio of Judge Fisher" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-06. Retrieved 2015-06-14.
7. John Fisher to Be Sworn In as Associate Judge on D.C. Court of Appeals This Friday
8. "Official Bio of Judge Thompson" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-06-26. Retrieved 2015-06-14.
9. Official Bio of Judge Beckwith
10. Official Bio of Judge Easterly
11. "Official Bio of Judge McLeese" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-06-14.
12. District of Columbia Court of Appeals Judges
13. "Notice of Judicial Vacancies on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals". jnc.dc.gov. December 6, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2020.

External links

• District of Columbia Court of Appeals – Official webpage of the DC Court of Appeals, part of the DC Courts' website.
• "District of Columbia", Caselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School, OCLC 1078785565, Court decisions freely available to the public online, in a consistent format, digitized from the collection of the Harvard Law Library