U.S. Courts of Appeals — Judicial Business 2023

Appeals by pro se litigants, which once again constituted 46 percent of new filings, dropped 4 percent to 18,517 cases. Forty-three percent of all filings by pro se litigants were prisoner petitions. Eighty-seven percent of the 9,089 prisoner petitions received were filed pro se, as were 84 percent of the 3,287 original proceedings and miscellaneous applications.

Seventy-nine percent of filings arose from cases originating in the U.S. district courts. Civil appeals, which amounted to 54 percent of total appellate court filings, fell 2 percent to 21,756.

Criminal appeals, which continued to account for 24 percent of total filings in the court of appeals, decreased 3 percent to 9,649. Reductions occurred in appeals in cases involving drugs, firearms and explosives, sex offenses, immigration offenses, and unclassified offenses. Appeals in cases addressing violent offenses, property offenses, fraud, justice system offenses, general offenses, and regulatory offenses increased. The number of traffic offense cases appealed remained unchanged from the prior year.

Administrative agency appeals dropped 12 percent to 4,638 and represented 12 percent of total filings in the courts of appeals. Appeals of Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decisions, which decreased 18 percent, constituted 78 percent of administrative agency appeals. Fifty-three percent of BIA appeals were filed in the Ninth Circuit, and 15 percent were filed in the Second Circuit.

Original proceedings and miscellaneous applications filed in the appellate courts fell 8 percent to 3,287. Bankruptcy appeals dropped 22 percent and amounted to 2 percent of total appellate filings.

Case terminations decreased 10 percent to 40,636. As terminations exceeded filings, pending cases dropped 1 percent to 32,039.

Since 2019, filings in the courts of appeals have declined 18 percent. Original proceedings and miscellaneous applications have gone down 34 percent. Administrative agency appeals have decreased 22 percent. Civil appeals (including prisoner petitions) have fallen 19 percent. Criminal appeals filings have dropped 4 percent. Bankruptcy appeals have increased 3 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) reported that total filings declined 15 percent (down 57 appeals) to 320 in 2023, the lowest level of the past 20 years. 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.

BAP filings dropped 21 percent in the Ninth Circuit (down 56 appeals), 21 percent in the Eighth Circuit (down 3 appeals), and 19 percent in the First Circuit (down 8 appeals). Filings increased 36 percent in the Tenth Circuit (up 8 appeals) and 8 percent in the Sixth Circuit (up 2 appeals). BAP case filings tend to lag bankruptcy case filings by one to two years.

Since 2019, BAP filings have fallen 39 percent (down 205 appeals). All five BAP circuits reported reductions in filings over this period. The Ninth Circuit had the greatest numeric decline, a decrease of 113 appeals (down 34 percent). The Tenth Circuit and First Circuit each had 30 fewer appeals (down 50 percent and 46 percent, respectively), the Eighth Circuit had 25 fewer appeals (down 69 percent), and the Sixth Circuit had 7 fewer appeals (down 21 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 increased 8 percent to 1,522 in 2023 (up by 108 cases). The highest numbers of filings were reported for appeals of decisions by the Patent and Trademark Office (525 cases), the U.S. district courts (335 cases), and the Merit Systems Protection Board (231 cases). The largest numeric increase was a rise of 104 cases in appeals of decisions by Merit Systems Protection Board (up 82 percent). 

Terminations of cases fell 13 percent to 1,276. The number of pending cases rose 18 percent to 1,651.

Filings in the Federal Circuit have increased 1 percent (up 11 appeals) over the last five years. The largest numeric growth occurred in appeals of decisions by the Merit Systems Protection Board, which rose by 97 to 231 (up 72 percent). The largest numeric reduction occurred in appeals of decisions by the Patent and Trademark Office, which fell by 134 to 525 (down 20 percent). Since 2019, case terminations have dropped 20 percent (down 326 appeals), and pending cases have increased 22 percent (up 296 appeals).

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