The appeals court formed by Trump is at the center of the border immigration debate
The thirteen federal appellate courts across the country are located just below the U.S. Supreme Court. In theory, the courts of appeal, each covering a judicial circuit, are equivalent. But often enough in American history, one circuit court plays an outsized role in shaping fundamental constitutional issues that ultimately end up before the Supreme Court.
Right now, that judicial spotlight belongs to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which is weighing the fate of a Texas law that would give police officers in the state the power to arrest people suspected of illegally entering the U.S. entered – a The power long believed to rest with the federal government.
It’s a case with far-reaching legal and political implications, and has landed the Fifth Circuit in the middle of a fierce debate over the extent of federal power over national borders.
The Fifth Circuit, based in New Orleans, hears cases from three states – Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana – and the court’s composition was dramatically shaped by President Trump, who appointed six of the seventeen judges. Six of the others were nominated by other Republican presidents.
In recent years, the Fifth Circuit has developed a reputation for muscular conservatism. Many of the justices adhere to “originalism,” which attempts to interpret the Constitution through the lens of its 18th-century authors.
That has led the Fifth Circuit to take a number of positions — such as protecting a violent abuser’s legal access to firearms — that even the Supreme Court’s conservative majority seemed skeptical of. Of the nine Fifth Circuit decisions reviewed by the Supreme Court last term, seven were reversed.
Yet the Fifth Circuit’s growing role in handling cases before the Supreme Court is undeniable. The number of Fifth Circuit cases heard by the nation’s highest court more than tripled during the Trump administration. And the fact that it hears appeals from federal district courts in Texas means the Fifth Circuit will likely remain very busy as the state’s governor and attorney general continue to mount legal challenges to federal authority over immigration and the border.