5th Circuit leads Supreme Court reversals for third consecutive time
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans had more decisions reversed this term by the U.S. Supreme Court than any appellate court, placing it at the top of the reversal list for the third consecutive time. (Photo by William A. Morgan/Shutterstock)
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans had more decisions reversed this term by the U.S. Supreme Court than any appellate court, placing it at the top of the reversal list for the third consecutive time.
The conservative 5th Circuit was reversed eight times out of 11 merits decisions, or in about 73% of cases. The overall reversal rate for the term was 70%. According to Bloomberg Law, five circuit courts were reversed at a higher rate but with fewer total reversals.
The New Orleans-based court covers cases in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. In the most-watched case out of the 5th Circuit, the Supreme Court justices voted 5-4 to uphold a Mississippi law in Watson v. RNC, allowing mail-in ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by—and received within five days of—Election Day.
The appeals court has faced a high reversal rate in recent years, according to David Coale, a partner at Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann and the president of the board of directors of the Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit, because of a permissive view on standing and an “expansive view of originalism.”
Those issues were not the cases that the Supreme Court chose to hear this year, according to Coale.
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