U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania14 authorized judgeships

About the Court

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Current United States federal appellate court

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
(3d Cir.)


Location
Appeals from
Established
Judges
Circuit Justice
Chief Judge
www.ca3.uscourts.gov

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts:

This circuit also hears appeals from the District Court of the Virgin Islands, which is an Article IV territorial court and not a district court under Article III of the Constitution.

The court is composed of 14 active judges and is based at the James A. Byrne United States Courthouse in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The court also conducts sittings in other venues, including the United States Virgin Islands.[1] It is one of 13 United States courts of appeals. Due to the court's appellate jurisdiction over Delaware, where more than half of publicly traded companies in the United States incorporate, the court handles a significant number of influential commercial cases in the United States.

History

List of former judges

[ edit]

#	Judge	State	Born–died	Active service	Chief Judge	Senior status	Appointed by	Reason for termination
1	Marcus Wilson Acheson	PA	1828–1906	1891–1906[Note 1]	—	—	B. Harrison / Operation of law	death
2	George M. Dallas	PA	1839–1917	1892–1909	—	—	B. Harrison	retirement
3	George Gray	DE	1840–1925	1899–1914[4]	—	—	McKinley	retirement
4	Joseph Buffington	PA	1855–1947	1906–1938[4]	—	1938–1947	T. Roosevelt	death
5	William M. Lanning	NJ	1849–1912	1909–1912	—	—	Taft	death
6	Robert W. Archbald	PA	1848–1926	1911–1913	—	—	[5]	removal
7	John Bayard McPherson	PA	1846–1919	1912–1919	—	—	Taft	death
8	Victor Baynard Woolley	DE	1867–1945	1914–1938	—	1938–1945	Wilson	death
9	Thomas Griffith Haight	NJ	1879–1942	1919–1920[4]	—	—	Wilson	resignation
10	John Warren Davis	NJ	1867–1945	1920–1939	—	1939–1941	Wilson	resignation
11	Joseph Whitaker Thompson	PA	1861–1946	1931–1938	—	1938–1946	Hoover	death
12	John Biggs Jr.	DE	1895–1979	1937–1965	1948–1965	1965–1979	F. Roosevelt	death
13	Albert Branson Maris	PA	1893–1989	1938–1958	—	1958–1989	F. Roosevelt	death
14	William Clark	NJ

…

Judges

Current composition of the court

[ edit]

As of October 9, 2025[update]:[2][3]

#	Title	Judge	Duty station	Born	Term of service	Appointed by
Active	Chief	Senior
---	---	---
61	Chief Judge	Michael Chagares	Newark, NJ	1962	2006–present	2021–present
63	Circuit Judge	Thomas Hardiman	Pittsburgh, PA	1965	2007–present	—
66	Circuit Judge	Patty Shwartz	Newark, NJ	1961	2013–present	—
67	Circuit Judge	Cheryl Ann Krause	Philadelphia, PA	1968	2014–present	—
68	Circuit Judge	L. Felipe Restrepo	Philadelphia, PA	1959	2016–present	—
69	Circuit Judge	Stephanos Bibas	Philadelphia, PA	1969	2017–present	—
70	Circuit Judge	David J. Porter	Pittsburgh, PA	1966	2018–present	—
71	Circuit Judge	Paul Matey	Newark, NJ	1971	2019–present	—
72	Circuit Judge	Peter J. Phipps	Pittsburgh, PA	1973	2019–present	—
73	Circuit Judge	Arianna J. Freeman	Philadelphia, PA	1978	2022–present	—
74	Circuit Judge	T. Montgomery-Reeves	Wilmington, DE	1981	2023–present	—
75	Circuit Judge	Cindy K. Chung	Pittsburgh, PA	1975	2023–present	—
76	Circuit Judge	Emil Bove	Newark, NJ	1981	2025–present	—
77	Circuit Judge	Jennifer Mascott	Wilmington, DE	1976	2025–present	—
45

…

Court overview, history, and judge data sourced from Wikipedia (CC-BY-SA 3.0).

Notable Opinions (4)

ACLU v. Mukasey

534 F.3d 181 (3d Cir. 2008)

United States Court of Appeals for the Third CircuitJuly 22, 2008

Struck down the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) as unconstitutional, finding that less restrictive alternatives existed for protecting children from harmful material on the internet. Upheld the district court's permanent injunction against the statute on First Amendment grounds.

Circuit Courtcivil rights

Doe v. Delaware State Police

939 F.3d 91 (3d Cir. 2019)

United States Court of Appeals for the Third CircuitSeptember 18, 2019

Addressed the constitutionality of sex offender registration requirements under the Due Process Clause and Ex Post Facto Clause. Examined whether retroactive application of registration and notification statutes constitutes punishment requiring additional procedural protections.

Circuit Courtcriminalcivil rights

In re Search of Information Associated with Email Accounts

950 F.3d 159 (3d Cir. 2020)

United States Court of Appeals for the Third CircuitFebruary 25, 2020

Addressed Fourth Amendment protections for email communications stored by third-party service providers. The court examined the scope of warrants for electronic communications and the applicability of the Third Party Doctrine in the digital age following the Supreme Court's decision in Carpenter v. United States.

Circuit Courtcriminalcivil rights

ACLU v. Reno (Reno II)

217 F.3d 162 (3d Cir. 2000)

United States Court of Appeals for the Third CircuitJune 22, 2000

Struck down the Child Online Protection Act on First Amendment grounds, finding that community standards-based obscenity restrictions cannot be applied to the internet because content is available nationwide. Held that less restrictive alternatives such as filtering software could protect children without burdening adult speech.

Circuit Courtcivil rights

Jurisdiction

The Third Circuit covers the following jurisdictions:

DENJPAVI

Court Information

Seat: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Authorized Judgeships: 14
Circuit Number: 3rd

Other Circuits

First Circuit Second Circuit Fourth Circuit Fifth Circuit Sixth Circuit Seventh Circuit Eighth Circuit Ninth Circuit Tenth Circuit Eleventh Circuit D.C. Circuit Federal Circuit