U.S. Courts of Appeals — Judicial Business 2022

Appeals by pro se litigants, which constituted 46 percent of new filings, dropped 10 percent to 19,294 cases. Forty-two percent of all filings by pro se litigants were prisoner petitions. Eighty-six percent of the 9,401 prisoner petitions received were filed pro se, as were 86 percent of the 3,564 original proceedings and miscellaneous applications.

Seventy-seven percent of filings arose from cases originating in the U.S. district courts. Civil appeals, which amounted to 53 percent of total appellate court filings, fell 5 percent to 22,181.

Criminal appeals, which accounted for 24 percent of total filings in the appeals courts, decreased 6 percent to 9,973. Reductions occurred in appeals in cases involving drugs, immigration, general offenses, and traffic offenses. Appeals increased in cases addressing firearms and explosives, sex offenses, justice systems offenses, violent offenses, property offenses, fraud, regulatory offenses, and unclassified offenses.

Administrative agency appeals dropped 17 percent to 5,282 and represented 13 percent of total filings in the courts of appeals. Appeals of Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decisions, which decreased 20 percent, constituted 83 percent of administrative agency appeals. Fifty-six percent of BIA appeals were filed in the Ninth Circuit, and 14 percent were filed in the Second Circuit.

Original proceedings and miscellaneous applications filed in the appellate courts remained stable, falling less than 1 percent to 3,564. Bankruptcy appeals rose 14 percent and amounted to 2 percent of total appellate filings.

Case terminations decreased 6 percent to 44,902. As terminations exceeded filings, pending cases dropped 9 percent to 32,512.

Since 2018, filings in the courts of appeals have declined 15 percent. Original proceedings and miscellaneous applications have gone down 29 percent. Civil appeals (including prisoner petitions) have fallen 20 percent. Administrative agency appeals have decreased 13 percent. Criminal appeals filings have gone up 2 percent. Bankruptcy appeals have increased 28 percent.

For data on the activity of the U.S. courts of appeals, see Table 1 and Table 2 and the B series of tables.

Bankruptcy Appellate Panels

The Bankruptcy Appellate Panels (BAPs) are three-judge panels authorized to hear appeals of bankruptcy court decisions. BAPs are units of the federal courts of appeals, and each BAP must be established by a circuit judicial council. Five federal judicial circuits—the First, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits—have BAPs.

Total filings in the BAPs declined 8 percent (down 31 appeals) to 377 in 2022, the lowest level in the last 20 years. Filings fell 59 percent in the Tenth Circuit (down 32 appeals), 26 percent in the Sixth Circuit (down 9 appeals), and 18 percent in the Eighth Circuit (down 3 appeals). Filings increased 30 percent in the First Circuit (up 10 appeals) and 1 percent in the Ninth Circuit (up 3 appeals). BAP case filings tend to lag bankruptcy case filings by about two years.

Since 2018, BAP filings have fallen 39 percent (down 240 appeals). All five BAP circuits reported reductions in filings over this period. The Ninth Circuit had the greatest numeric decline, a decrease of 101 appeals (down 27 percent). The Tenth Circuit had 82 fewer appeals (down 79 percent), the Sixth Circuit had 21 fewer appeals (down 46 percent), the Eighth Circuit had 20 fewer appeals (down 59 percent), and the First Circuit had 16 fewer appeals (down 27 percent).

For data on the activity of the BAPs, see Table BAP-1 and Table BAP-2.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

The jurisdiction of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is defined by subject matter rather than by geographic boundaries. This court is responsible for appeals involving customs and patents; rulings by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, U.S. Court of International Trade, and U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims; and decisions by several federal administrative bodies.

Filings in the Federal Circuit decreased 11 percent to 1,414 in 2022 (down by 168 cases). Total filings per panel declined from 396 to 354. The largest numeric reduction was in appeals of decisions by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which fell by 193 to 137 (down 58 percent), and in petitions for writs of mandamus, other extraordinary writs, permission to appeal, and discretionary review, which dropped by 25 to 69 (down 27 percent).

Increases were spread across six types of filings, with the largest numeric growth occurring in appeals of decisions by the U.S. district courts, which rose by 34 to 323 (up 12 percent), and in appeals of decisions by the International Trade Commission, which went up by 13 to 27 (up 93 percent).

Terminations of cases rose 7 percent to 1,460. The number of pending cases decreased 3 percent to 1,404.

Filings in the Federal Circuit were 8 percent lower in 2022 than in 2018 (down 116 cases). The largest numeric reduction occurred in appeals of decisions by the U.S. district courts, which fell by 101 to 323 (down 24 percent). Since 2018, case terminations have dropped 10 percent (down 166 appeals), and pending cases have decreased 3 percent (down 42 appeals).

For data on the activity of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, see Table B-8.