Circuit Status

Each year, of the thousands of petitions for review that the Supreme Court receives, the justices typically grant fewer than 100. For just about everyone else, a decision made by one of the 13 federal courts of appeals is the end of the line, which makes these life-tenured judges some of the most powerful people many Americans have never heard of.

This interactive map shows which party's nominees control these federal courts of appeals and the federal district courts below them, along with demographic information about the people who are subject to the decisions they make.