The Circuit Bench, Left to Right
All 470 federal appeals judges evaluated between 1990 and 2024, ranked by what the lawyers who argued before them said — including eight who went on to the Supreme Court, and three who broke the political-science models on their way through history.
Scores: JuDJIS (Cope, Political Analysis, 2026), from Almanac of the Federal Judiciary evaluations, 1990–2024, on a −1 (liberal) to +1 (conservative) scale. Republished in full by kind permission of Prof. Kevin Cope, 27 August 2026. Full citations in the method note.
The most conservative scored career on the modern federal appeals bench belongs to Donald Russell of the 4th Circuit (+0.93), the most liberal to George Edwards of the 6th (−0.80). Among the justices of the Supreme Court, the two most conservative circuit records are John Roberts (9th of 451) and Samuel Alito (13th) — and the judge the models get most wrong is John Minor Wisdom, the Republican appointee the lawyers rated third most liberal of all.
One bench, three rulers
Every judge below carries up to three numbers, and they are not the same kind of number. JuDJIS, the ranking column, reads what the lawyers who appeared before each judge wrote about them in the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary, year by year from 1990 to 2024 — the only measure of the three built from observed judging. JCS, the Judicial Common Space score, is imputed from nomination politics: a judge inherits the ideology of the appointing president or, where senatorial courtesy applies, of home-state senators, and the number is fixed for life. CFscore reads pre-appointment campaign donations, and where a judge never donated, it is itself imputed (marked ° in the table).
The three usually agree. Where they disagree, this page's sympathies are with the measure that watched the judge work — and the disagreements are the most interesting rows on the page, which is why the scores are shown side by side rather than averaged into a false consensus.
The justices, when they were circuit judges
Eight members of the Court, sitting or recent, passed through this dataset on the way up. The two most conservative circuit records belong to the two who now anchor the Court's right: the Roberts and Alito chapters cite these ranks, and this table is where they come from.
Two more justices with circuit service are not in the dataset at all: Clarence Thomas, whose sixteen months on the D.C. Circuit ended with his 1991 elevation, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, whose single year on the D.C. Circuit preceded her 2022 elevation. Barrett's entry deserves its asterisk before her rank is quoted anywhere: her three years on the 7th Circuit produced the widest confidence interval in the entire dataset, wider than the scale itself — see “How much of this order is real,” below.
The 451 Judges the Lawyers Could Place, Ranked
Every circuit judge with enough Almanac evaluations to score, ranked by JuDJIS. The drawn band under each score is the published 95% confidence interval — it is part of the data, not decoration, and the section under the table is about what it does to the ranking. JCS and CFscore are printed alongside for comparison; a ° marks an imputed CFscore, and a · marks a judge the measure does not cover.
Ordered from the conservative end, #1 to #451 — the direction this site's justice chapters cite. Judges who went on to the Court are shaded. Where two judges hold the same score, the order between them is the source file's and means nothing.
| # | Judge | JuDJIS, with 95% interval | JCS | CFscore |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Donald Russell 4th Cir. · R appointee | +0.93 | +0.39 | +0.10° |
| 2 | William Timbers 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.83 | +0.07 | −0.16 |
| 3 | Leroy Contie 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.78 | +0.69 | +0.80 |
| 4 | George MacKinnon D.C. Cir. · R appointee | +0.78 | +0.55 | +0.56° |
| 5 | J. Luttig 4th Cir. · R appointee | +0.69 | +0.26 | +0.48 |
| 6 | Bailey Brown 6th Cir. · D appointee | +0.67 | −0.35 | −0.66° |
| 7 | George Pratt 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.67 | +0.18 | +0.52° |
| 8 | Francis Van Dusen 3rd Cir. · D appointee | +0.67 | −0.58 | · |
| 9 | John Roberts D.C. Cir. · R appointee · later a justice | +0.67 | +0.69 | +0.98 |
| 10 | John Coffey 7th Cir. · R appointee | +0.64 | +0.26 | +1.08° |
| 11 | George Fagg 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.64 | +0.35 | +0.70° |
| 12 | Clyde Hamilton 4th Cir. · R appointee | +0.64 | +0.39 | +0.89° |
| 13 | Samuel Alito 3rd Cir. · R appointee · later a justice | +0.63 | +0.56 | +1.53° |
| 14 | William Hutchinson 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.62 | +0.07 | +0.90° |
| 15 | Robert Krupansky 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.60 | +0.69 | +1.12° |
| 16 | Rhesa Barksdale 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.60 | +0.34 | +1.00 |
| 17 | Edith Jones 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.59 | +0.55 | +1.43 |
| 18 | Priscilla Richman 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.59 | +0.41 | +0.94° |
| 19 | Karen Williams 4th Cir. · R appointee | +0.59 | +0.39 | −1.05 |
| 20 | William Wilkins 4th Cir. · R appointee | +0.59 | +0.39 | +1.15 |
| 21 | Charles Wiggins 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.58 | +0.35 | +1.41 |
| 22 | John Mahoney 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.57 | +0.18 | +0.88° |
| 23 | Dennis Shedd 4th Cir. · R appointee | +0.56 | +0.39 | +0.72° |
| 24 | Paul Niemeyer 4th Cir. · R appointee | +0.56 | +0.56 | +0.96° |
| 25 | Laurence Silberman D.C. Cir. · R appointee | +0.55 | +0.69 | +0.99 |
| 26 | David Sentelle D.C. Cir. · R appointee | +0.54 | +0.69 | +1.36 |
| 27 | Richard Suhrheinrich 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.54 | +0.56 | +1.22 |
| 28 | William Pryor 11th Cir. · R appointee | +0.54 | +0.50 | +0.94° |
| 29 | Pasco Bowman 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.54 | +0.20 | +1.36 |
| 30 | James Wilkinson 4th Cir. · R appointee | +0.53 | +0.26 | +0.86° |
| 31 | Stephen Anderson 10th Cir. · R appointee | +0.53 | +0.44 | +1.29° |
| 32 | James Edmondson 11th Cir. · R appointee | +0.53 | +0.33 | +1.08° |
| 33 | James Barrett 10th Cir. · R appointee | +0.53 | +0.49 | +0.95° |
| 34 | Eugene Wright 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.53 | +0.55 | +1.10° |
| 35 | James Buckley D.C. Cir. · R appointee | +0.53 | +0.69 | +0.40° |
| 36 | Melvin Brunetti 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.53 | +0.49 | +0.82 |
| 37 | Emmett Cox 11th Cir. · R appointee | +0.52 | +0.69 | +1.06° |
| 38 | Bailey Aldrich 1st Cir. · R appointee | +0.52 | +0.17 | · |
| 39 | Harry Wellford 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.51 | +0.28 | +1.14 |
| 40 | Bobby Baldock 10th Cir. · R appointee | +0.51 | +0.26 | +0.62° |
| 41 | David Nelson 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.51 | +0.69 | +1.02° |
| 42 | Michael McConnell 10th Cir. · R appointee | +0.51 | +0.36 | +1.11 |
| 43 | Arthur Randolph D.C. Cir. · R appointee | +0.51 | +0.56 | +1.34° |
| 44 | Hiram Widener 4th Cir. · R appointee | +0.50 | +0.55 | +0.93° |
| 45 | Arnold Cowen Fed. Cir. · D appointee | +0.50 | · | −0.39° |
| 46 | Amy Barrett 7th Cir. · R appointee · later a justice | +0.50 | +0.45 | +1.18° |
| 47 | Elizabeth Branch 11th Cir. · R appointee | +0.50 | +0.48 | +0.85 |
| 48 | Michael Scudder 7th Cir. · R appointee | +0.50 | +0.40 | +1.16 |
| 49 | Andrew Brasher 11th Cir. · R appointee | +0.50 | +0.45 | +1.32 |
| 50 | Robert Luck 11th Cir. · R appointee | +0.50 | +0.65 | −0.46 |
| 51 | Barbara Lagoa 11th Cir. · R appointee | +0.50 | +0.65 | +1.02 |
| 52 | Emilio Garza 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.49 | +0.55 | +1.21 |
| 53 | Daniel Manion 7th Cir. · R appointee | +0.49 | +0.40 | +1.20° |
| 54 | Jerry Smith 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.48 | +0.55 | +0.73° |
| 55 | C[larence] Beam 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.48 | +0.34 | +1.12° |
| 56 | James Ryan 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.48 | +0.69 | +0.70 |
| 57 | William Garwood 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.48 | +0.44 | +1.13 |
| 58 | Danny Boggs 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.47 | +0.40 | +0.54° |
| 59 | Alice Batchelder 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.47 | +0.56 | +0.90° |
| 60 | Wilbur Pell 7th Cir. · R appointee | +0.47 | +0.55 | +0.76° |
| 61 | Ellsworth Van Graafeiland 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.47 | −0.12 | +0.57° |
| 62 | Cornelia Kennedy 6th Cir. · D appointee | +0.46 | −0.41 | +0.14 |
| 63 | Stephen Williams D.C. Cir. · R appointee | +0.46 | +0.69 | +1.16 |
| 64 | James Loken 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.46 | +0.20 | +1.05 |
| 65 | Deanell Tacha 10th Cir. · R appointee | +0.46 | +0.26 | +1.19 |
| 66 | G. Agee 4th Cir. · R appointee | +0.46 | +0.26 | +1.06 |
| 67 | Frank Magill 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.46 | +0.09 | +1.21° |
| 68 | Raymond Gruender 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.46 | +0.34 | +1.15 |
| 69 | William Riley 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.45 | +0.34 | +1.20 |
| 70 | John Porfilio 10th Cir. · R appointee | +0.45 | +0.51 | +0.95° |
| 71 | Gerald Tjoflat 11th Cir. · R appointee | +0.45 | +0.51 | +0.46° |
| 72 | Deborah Cook 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.45 | +0.26 | +0.94 |
| 73 | Edward Carnes 11th Cir. · R appointee | +0.45 | +0.56 | +0.57° |
| 74 | Marion Bennett Fed. Cir. · D appointee | +0.44 | · | +0.96° |
| 75 | Pamela Rymer 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.44 | +0.35 | +0.43° |
| 76 | Karen Henderson D.C. Cir. · R appointee | +0.44 | +0.39 | +1.13 |
| 77 | D. Fisher 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.43 | +0.20 | +1.16 |
| 78 | Chad Readler 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.43 | +0.37 | +0.92 |
| 79 | David Hansen 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.43 | +0.36 | +1.20° |
| 80 | Frank Easterbrook 7th Cir. · R appointee | +0.43 | +0.69 | +0.73° |
| 81 | Eugene Siler 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.43 | +0.40 | +0.59° |
| 82 | Wade Brorby 10th Cir. · R appointee | +0.43 | +0.45 | +1.09° |
| 83 | Michael Park 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.43 | +0.40 | +1.17 |
| 84 | Joel Dubina 11th Cir. · R appointee | +0.43 | +0.56 | +1.00 |
| 85 | Andrew Kleinfeld 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.42 | +0.28 | +0.76° |
| 86 | Sandra Ikuta 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.42 | +0.69 | +1.44 |
| 87 | A. Quattlebaum 4th Cir. · R appointee | +0.42 | +0.50 | +1.17 |
| 88 | Reena Raggi 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.41 | +0.69 | +0.65° |
| 89 | Donald Ross 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.41 | +0.47 | +1.08° |
| 90 | Richard Sullivan 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.40 | +0.40 | +0.90° |
| 91 | Timothy Tymkovich 10th Cir. · R appointee | +0.40 | +0.40 | +1.22 |
| 92 | Alex Kozinski 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.40 | +0.35 | +1.45 |
| 93 | Steven Colloton 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.39 | +0.36 | +1.06 |
| 94 | Diarmuid O'Scannlain 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.39 | +0.10 | +1.11 |
| 95 | Richard Wesley 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.39 | +0.69 | +0.44 |
| 96 | John Wallace 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.39 | +0.55 | +0.64° |
| 97 | Brett Kavanaugh D.C. Cir. · R appointee · later a justice | +0.38 | +0.69 | +0.88 |
| 98 | Jeffrey Sutton 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.38 | +0.26 | +0.96 |
| 99 | Joseph Lumbard 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.38 | +0.04 | · |
| 100 | Herbert Milburn 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.38 | +0.28 | +1.26° |
| 101 | David Porter 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.38 | +0.62 | +0.81 |
| 102 | John Gibson 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.38 | +0.20 | +0.70° |
| 103 | Bruce Selya 1st Cir. · R appointee | +0.38 | +0.08 | +0.80 |
| 104 | Allison Eid 10th Cir. · R appointee | +0.38 | +0.44 | +0.75 |
| 105 | Ralph Winter 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.38 | +0.07 | +0.59° |
| 106 | John Walker 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.38 | +0.18 | +0.91 |
| 107 | Morton Greenberg 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.37 | +0.69 | +0.42° |
| 108 | Allison Rushing 4th Cir. · R appointee | +0.37 | +0.41 | +0.85° |
| 109 | Richard Posner 7th Cir. · R appointee | +0.37 | +0.10 | +1.19° |
| 110 | W. Davis 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.37 | +0.69 | +0.59° |
| 111 | Harlington Wood 7th Cir. · R appointee | +0.37 | +0.10 | +0.48° |
| 112 | Thomas Hardiman 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.37 | +0.07 | +0.85 |
| 113 | Alan Norris 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.37 | +0.69 | +0.03 |
| 114 | Jeffrey Howard 1st Cir. · R appointee | +0.37 | +0.53 | +0.97 |
| 115 | Roger Miner 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.36 | +0.18 | +0.97° |
| 116 | David McKeague 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.36 | +0.69 | +1.39 |
| 117 | Richard Griffin 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.36 | +0.69 | +0.96 |
| 118 | Jesse Henley 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.36 | +0.51 | · |
| 119 | Thomas Nelson 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.36 | +0.59 | +0.98° |
| 120 | Diane Sykes 7th Cir. · R appointee | +0.35 | +0.69 | +0.64 |
| 121 | Robert Chapman 4th Cir. · R appointee | +0.35 | +0.39 | +1.01° |
| 122 | Terrence O'Brien 10th Cir. · R appointee | +0.34 | +0.50 | +1.15° |
| 123 | E. Jolly 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.34 | +0.29 | +1.39 |
| 124 | Albert Henderson 11th Cir. · D appointee | +0.34 | −0.12 | +0.16° |
| 125 | Harold DeMoss 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.34 | +0.55 | +1.51 |
| 126 | Harris Hartz 10th Cir. · R appointee | +0.34 | +0.26 | +1.10 |
| 127 | Cynthia Hall 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.33 | +0.35 | +0.79° |
| 128 | John Kilkenny 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.33 | +0.10 | · |
| 129 | William Thornberry 5th Cir. · D appointee | +0.33 | −0.42 | −0.30° |
| 130 | Franklin Van Antwerpen 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.33 | +0.20 | +0.66° |
| 131 | Neil Gorsuch 10th Cir. · R appointee · later a justice | +0.33 | +0.57 | +1.21 |
| 132 | Toby Heytens 4th Cir. · D appointee | +0.33 | −0.23 | −0.94 |
| 133 | Jerome Holmes 10th Cir. · R appointee | +0.33 | +0.67 | +0.84 |
| 134 | Edith Clement 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.33 | +0.69 | +0.91 |
| 135 | Raymond Kethledge 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.33 | +0.69 | +1.04 |
| 136 | James Ho 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.33 | +0.63 | +1.25 |
| 137 | Stephen Trott 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.32 | +0.59 | +0.13° |
| 138 | Milan Smith 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.32 | +0.69 | +0.82 |
| 139 | Floyd Gibson 8th Cir. · D appointee | +0.32 | −0.32 | −0.40° |
| 140 | Oliver Seth 10th Cir. · D appointee | +0.32 | −0.20 | −0.40° |
| 141 | Juan Torruella 1st Cir. · R appointee | +0.31 | +0.69 | +0.16° |
| 142 | Dennis Jacobs 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.31 | +0.18 | +1.11 |
| 143 | Michael Boudin 1st Cir. · R appointee | +0.31 | +0.56 | +0.86° |
| 144 | Carlos Bea 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.31 | +0.69 | +0.81 |
| 145 | Allyson Duncan 4th Cir. · R appointee | +0.31 | +0.36 | +0.95 |
| 146 | Joseph Sneed 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.31 | +0.55 | +0.94° |
| 147 | Charles Clark 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.31 | +0.55 | +1.22 |
| 148 | John Duhe 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.30 | +0.69 | +1.16 |
| 149 | Otto Skopil 9th Cir. · D appointee | +0.30 | −0.50 | +0.67 |
| 150 | Richard Tallman 9th Cir. · D appointee | +0.30 | −0.35 | +0.69 |
| 151 | Thomas Griffith D.C. Cir. · R appointee | +0.30 | +0.69 | +1.21 |
| 152 | Debra Livingston 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.30 | +0.69 | +1.28 |
| 153 | Patrick Higginbotham 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.30 | +0.44 | +1.40° |
| 154 | Roger Wollman 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.30 | +0.23 | +1.01° |
| 155 | Kurt Engelhardt 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.30 | +0.51 | +1.22 |
| 156 | Steven Menashi 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.30 | +0.40 | +1.23 |
| 157 | Consuelo Callahan 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.29 | +0.69 | +1.15 |
| 158 | D[avid] Smith 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.29 | +0.20 | +0.72° |
| 159 | Jay Bybee 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.29 | +0.69 | +0.87° |
| 160 | Mary Murguia 9th Cir. · D appointee | +0.29 | −0.36 | −0.43 |
| 161 | Ralph Guy 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.29 | +0.69 | +0.36° |
| 162 | Catharina Haynes 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.29 | +0.41 | +0.94° |
| 163 | Leslie Southwick 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.29 | +0.35 | +1.17 |
| 164 | Eric Miller 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.28 | +0.40 | +1.21 |
| 165 | Douglas Ginsburg D.C. Cir. · R appointee | +0.28 | +0.69 | +0.38° |
| 166 | Andrew Oldham 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.28 | +0.63 | +1.63 |
| 167 | Thomas Gee 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.28 | +0.44 | +0.94° |
| 168 | John Rogers 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.28 | +0.46 | +1.12 |
| 169 | Ryan Nelson 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.28 | +0.53 | +1.06 |
| 170 | Arthur Alarc√≥n 9th Cir. · D appointee | +0.28 | −0.39 | −0.43° |
| 171 | Michael Kanne 7th Cir. · R appointee | +0.28 | +0.40 | +1.18° |
| 172 | Thomas Meskill 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.27 | +0.07 | +0.09° |
| 173 | Conrad Cyr 1st Cir. · R appointee | +0.27 | +0.10 | +0.62° |
| 174 | Don Willett 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.27 | +0.63 | +1.50 |
| 175 | Mark Bennett 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.27 | +0.40 | +0.55 |
| 176 | John Noonan 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.27 | +0.35 | +1.09° |
| 177 | William Bauer 7th Cir. · R appointee | +0.27 | +0.10 | +1.08° |
| 178 | Kent Jordan 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.26 | +0.69 | +0.76° |
| 179 | Herbert Choy 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.26 | +0.17 | +0.95° |
| 180 | Amul Thapar 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.26 | +0.65 | +1.19 |
| 181 | N[orman] Smith 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.26 | +0.50 | +1.16° |
| 182 | Stanley Birch 11th Cir. · R appointee | +0.26 | +0.56 | +1.48 |
| 183 | Glenn Archer Fed. Cir. · R appointee | +0.25 | · | +1.16 |
| 184 | Bobby Shepherd 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.25 | +0.69 | +0.32° |
| 185 | Ferdinand Fernandez 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.25 | +0.35 | −0.51 |
| 186 | John Field 4th Cir. · R appointee | +0.25 | +0.55 | · |
| 187 | Gustavo Gelpi 1st Cir. · D appointee | +0.25 | −0.32 | −0.13 |
| 188 | Peter Phipps 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.25 | +0.62 | +1.08° |
| 189 | Janice Brown D.C. Cir. · R appointee | +0.25 | +0.69 | +1.07 |
| 190 | Richard Cardamone 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.24 | +0.18 | +0.86° |
| 191 | John Bush 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.24 | +0.65 | +1.07 |
| 192 | Robert Beezer 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.23 | +0.26 | +1.33 |
| 193 | Timothy Lewis 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.23 | +0.07 | −0.78 |
| 194 | William Traxler 4th Cir. · D appointee | +0.23 | −0.29 | +1.31 |
| 195 | Leonard Grasz 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.22 | +0.57 | +1.32 |
| 196 | Frank Hull 11th Cir. · D appointee | +0.22 | −0.22 | −0.63° |
| 197 | Susan Black 11th Cir. · R appointee | +0.22 | +0.47 | −0.51° |
| 198 | William Benton 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.21 | +0.34 | +1.08 |
| 199 | Jonathan Kobes 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.21 | +0.39 | +1.38 |
| 200 | Albert Engel 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.21 | +0.33 | +0.66° |
| 201 | Pierce Lively 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.20 | +0.10 | −0.26 |
| 202 | Jennifer Elrod 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.20 | +0.41 | +1.31 |
| 203 | Gregory Katsas D.C. Cir. · R appointee | +0.20 | +0.40 | +1.19 |
| 204 | Julius Richardson 4th Cir. · R appointee | +0.20 | +0.50 | +0.40 |
| 205 | Stephanos Bibas 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.20 | +0.62 | +1.18 |
| 206 | Michael Chagares 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.19 | +0.69 | +0.39° |
| 207 | Leonard Garth 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.19 | −0.11 | +0.13° |
| 208 | Kenneth Ripple 7th Cir. · R appointee | +0.19 | +0.40 | +1.26° |
| 209 | Randall Rader Fed. Cir. · R appointee | +0.19 | +0.56 | +0.89° |
| 210 | James Hill 11th Cir. · R appointee | +0.19 | +0.51 | +0.79° |
| 211 | Joseph Weis 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.19 | +0.10 | +0.61° |
| 212 | Peter Hall 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.18 | +0.69 | +1.14 |
| 213 | Joel Flaum 7th Cir. · R appointee | +0.18 | +0.10 | +0.13° |
| 214 | Paul Kelly 10th Cir. · R appointee | +0.18 | +0.26 | +1.05 |
| 215 | Jane Roth 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.18 | +0.27 | +0.91 |
| 216 | Robert McWilliams 10th Cir. · R appointee | +0.18 | +0.34 | +0.86° |
| 217 | Daniel Friedman Fed. Cir. · D appointee | +0.17 | · | −0.62° |
| 218 | Levin Campbell 1st Cir. · R appointee | +0.17 | −0.10 | +0.74° |
| 219 | Paul Roney 11th Cir. · R appointee | +0.17 | +0.31 | +0.18° |
| 220 | Robert Parker 5th Cir. · D appointee | +0.17 | −0.12 | −0.21 |
| 221 | Norman Stahl 1st Cir. · R appointee | +0.17 | +0.46 | +0.84 |
| 222 | David Thompson 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.17 | +0.35 | +0.74° |
| 223 | Stuart Duncan 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.17 | +0.51 | +1.38° |
| 224 | Robert Cowen 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.16 | +0.69 | +0.36° |
| 225 | Peter Fay 11th Cir. · R appointee | +0.15 | +0.51 | +0.62° |
| 226 | Julia Gibbons 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.15 | +0.38 | +0.79° |
| 227 | John Tinder 7th Cir. · R appointee | +0.13 | +0.30 | +0.74° |
| 228 | Christopher Droney 2nd Cir. · D appointee | +0.13 | −0.32 | −0.66 |
| 229 | Edward Leavy 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.13 | +0.10 | +0.11° |
| 230 | Morris Arnold 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.13 | +0.38 | −0.53 |
| 231 | Joseph McLaughlin 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.13 | +0.18 | +0.75° |
| 232 | Paul Michel Fed. Cir. · R appointee | +0.13 | +0.69 | +0.33 |
| 233 | Neomi Rao D.C. Cir. · R appointee | +0.13 | +0.40 | +1.18 |
| 234 | Jacques Wiener 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.12 | +0.56 | +0.50 |
| 235 | Sharon Prost Fed. Cir. · R appointee | +0.12 | +0.69 | +0.85° |
| 236 | Richard Nygaard 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.12 | +0.07 | +0.65° |
| 237 | Stanley Marcus 11th Cir. · D appointee | +0.12 | −0.23 | +0.02° |
| 238 | Britt Grant 11th Cir. · R appointee | +0.12 | +0.48 | +1.03° |
| 239 | Haldane Mayer Fed. Cir. · R appointee | +0.11 | +0.69 | +0.76° |
| 240 | Eric Murphy 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.11 | +0.37 | +1.14° |
| 241 | Paul Matey 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.11 | +0.40 | +0.13 |
| 242 | R[obert] Anderson 11th Cir. · D appointee | +0.10 | −0.12 | −0.63 |
| 243 | Ralph Erickson 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.10 | +0.40 | +1.54 |
| 244 | Richard Clifton 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.10 | +0.69 | +0.86 |
| 245 | Edward Prado 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.10 | +0.41 | +1.19 |
| 246 | Lavenski Smith 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.10 | +0.42 | +0.27° |
| 247 | Raymond Clevenger Fed. Cir. · R appointee | +0.10 | +0.56 | +0.83 |
| 248 | Alan Lourie Fed. Cir. · R appointee | +0.10 | +0.56 | +1.20° |
| 249 | Sandra Lynch 1st Cir. · D appointee | +0.10 | −0.40 | −0.17 |
| 250 | Raymond Lohier 2nd Cir. · D appointee | +0.10 | −0.40 | −0.81 |
| 251 | Joel Carson 10th Cir. · R appointee | +0.10 | +0.40 | −0.69 |
| 252 | Kevin Newsom 11th Cir. · R appointee | +0.10 | +0.52 | +1.28 |
| 253 | Julie Carnes 11th Cir. · D appointee | +0.10 | −0.36 | +0.49° |
| 254 | Joan Larsen 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.10 | +0.40 | +1.26 |
| 255 | Maryanne Barry 3rd Cir. · D appointee | +0.10 | −0.32 | −0.68° |
| 256 | Thomas Reavley 5th Cir. · D appointee | +0.09 | −0.16 | +1.00 |
| 257 | Carol Mansmann 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.09 | +0.07 | +0.47° |
| 258 | Michael Murphy 10th Cir. · D appointee | +0.09 | −0.44 | −0.23° |
| 259 | David Ebel 10th Cir. · R appointee | +0.09 | +0.51 | +0.87 |
| 260 | Frank Altimari 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.09 | +0.18 | +0.85° |
| 261 | Gregory Phillips 10th Cir. · D appointee | +0.09 | −0.36 | −0.87 |
| 262 | Anthony Scirica 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.09 | +0.07 | +0.47° |
| 263 | Walter Stapleton 3rd Cir. · R appointee | +0.09 | +0.27 | −0.95 |
| 264 | Chester Straub 2nd Cir. · D appointee | +0.09 | −0.30 | −0.55 |
| 265 | Joseph Greenaway 3rd Cir. · D appointee | +0.08 | −0.37 | −0.68° |
| 266 | William Nardini 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.08 | +0.40 | −0.01° |
| 267 | Kenneth Hall 4th Cir. · R appointee | +0.08 | +0.51 | +1.30° |
| 268 | Arthur Gajarsa Fed. Cir. · D appointee | +0.07 | −0.44 | −0.82 |
| 269 | Barrington Parker 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.07 | +0.69 | −0.45 |
| 270 | Michael Melloy 8th Cir. · R appointee | +0.07 | +0.36 | +0.99° |
| 271 | Mary Briscoe 10th Cir. · D appointee | +0.07 | −0.44 | −0.50° |
| 272 | Stephen Higginson 5th Cir. · D appointee | +0.07 | −0.20 | +1.07 |
| 273 | Kimberly Moore Fed. Cir. · R appointee | +0.06 | +0.69 | +1.26 |
| 274 | William Bryson Fed. Cir. · D appointee | +0.06 | −0.44 | −0.37° |
| 275 | Jos√© Cabranes 2nd Cir. · D appointee | +0.06 | −0.27 | −0.62 |
| 276 | William Kayatta 1st Cir. · D appointee | +0.06 | −0.36 | −0.68 |
| 277 | David Barron 1st Cir. · D appointee | +0.05 | −0.52 | −0.91 |
| 278 | Cory Wilson 5th Cir. · R appointee | +0.05 | +0.41 | +1.17 |
| 279 | Walter Cummings 7th Cir. · D appointee | +0.05 | −0.58 | −0.19° |
| 280 | S. Plager Fed. Cir. · R appointee | +0.05 | +0.56 | +1.14 |
| 281 | Alvin Schall Fed. Cir. · R appointee | +0.04 | +0.56 | +0.91 |
| 282 | Carolyn King 5th Cir. · D appointee | +0.04 | −0.16 | −0.35° |
| 283 | Susan Graber 9th Cir. · D appointee | +0.04 | −0.33 | −0.64° |
| 284 | Richard Linn Fed. Cir. · D appointee | +0.04 | −0.44 | −0.51 |
| 285 | Pauline Newman Fed. Cir. · R appointee | +0.04 | +0.69 | +0.15° |
| 286 | Gerard Lynch 2nd Cir. · D appointee | +0.04 | −0.40 | −0.82 |
| 287 | Thomas Vanaskie 3rd Cir. · D appointee | +0.04 | −0.32 | −0.85 |
| 288 | John Owens 9th Cir. · D appointee | +0.03 | −0.36 | −0.69° |
| 289 | Michael Hawkins 9th Cir. · D appointee | +0.03 | −0.22 | −0.56 |
| 290 | Robert Sack 2nd Cir. · D appointee | +0.03 | −0.30 | −0.44° |
| 291 | John Nalbandian 6th Cir. · R appointee | +0.02 | +0.65 | +0.93 |
| 292 | Carolyn McHugh 10th Cir. · D appointee | +0.02 | −0.36 | −0.43 |
| 293 | Ronald Gilman 6th Cir. · D appointee | +0.02 | −0.44 | −0.12 |
| 294 | Scott Matheson 10th Cir. · D appointee | +0.02 | −0.36 | −0.65 |
| 295 | Alfred Goodwin 9th Cir. · R appointee | +0.02 | +0.10 | −0.81 |
| 296 | John Godbold 11th Cir. · D appointee | +0.01 | −0.23 | −0.63° |
| 297 | Bernice Donald 6th Cir. · D appointee | +0.01 | −0.36 | −0.68 |
| 298 | Kathleen O'Malley Fed. Cir. · D appointee | +0.01 | −0.36 | −0.51° |
| 299 | Ronald Gould 9th Cir. · D appointee | +0.01 | −0.35 | −0.76 |
| 300 | Timothy Dyk Fed. Cir. · D appointee | +0.01 | −0.44 | −0.81 |
| 301 | Joseph Farris 9th Cir. · D appointee | +0.01 | −0.31 | −0.51° |
| 302 | Howard Markey Fed. Cir. · D appointee | +0.00 | +0.69 | +0.44° |
| 303 | Lawrence Pierce 2nd Cir. · R appointee | +0.00 | +0.18 | −0.51° |
| 304 | Alvin Rubin 5th Cir. · D appointee | +0.00 | −0.19 | −0.04° |
| 305 | Robert Wilkins D.C. Cir. · D appointee | +0.00 | −0.36 | −0.99 |
| 306 | Stephanie Thacker 4th Cir. · D appointee | +0.00 | −0.19 | −0.66 |
| 307 | Andrew Hurwitz 9th Cir. · D appointee | +0.00 | −0.36 | −0.55 |
| 308 | Diana Murphy 8th Cir. · D appointee | −0.00 | −0.58 | −0.48° |
| 309 | Robert Bacharach 10th Cir. · D appointee | −0.01 | −0.36 | −0.95° |
| 310 | Julio Fuentes 3rd Cir. · D appointee | −0.01 | −0.32 | −0.88° |
| 311 | Luis Restrepo 3rd Cir. · D appointee | −0.01 | −0.31 | −0.59° |
| 312 | Max Rosenn 3rd Cir. · R appointee | −0.01 | +0.10 | +0.73° |
| 313 | Charles Wilson 11th Cir. · D appointee | −0.01 | −0.23 | −0.41° |
| 314 | Susan Carney 2nd Cir. · D appointee | −0.01 | −0.35 | −0.58° |
| 315 | Gregg Costa 5th Cir. · D appointee | −0.02 | −0.36 | +0.03° |
| 316 | Fred Parker 2nd Cir. · D appointee | −0.03 | −0.36 | +0.84° |
| 317 | Kermit Bye 8th Cir. · D appointee | −0.03 | −0.28 | −0.36 |
| 318 | Terence Evans 7th Cir. · D appointee | −0.03 | · | −1.03 |
| 319 | Johnnie Rawlinson 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.03 | −0.26 | −0.45° |
| 320 | Ann Williams 7th Cir. · D appointee | −0.04 | −0.35 | −1.08 |
| 321 | Thomas Ambro 3rd Cir. · D appointee | −0.04 | −0.31 | −0.27 |
| 322 | Srikanth Srinivasan D.C. Cir. · D appointee | −0.05 | −0.36 | −0.93 |
| 323 | Sidney Thomas 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.05 | −0.21 | −0.69 |
| 324 | Nancy Moritz 10th Cir. · D appointee | −0.06 | −0.36 | −0.73° |
| 325 | Diane Wood 7th Cir. · D appointee | −0.06 | −0.37 | −0.93 |
| 326 | Helene White 6th Cir. · R appointee | −0.06 | +0.69 | −0.66 |
| 327 | Amalya Kearse 2nd Cir. · D appointee | −0.06 | −0.30 | −0.49° |
| 328 | Aloyisus Higginbotham 3rd Cir. · D appointee | −0.06 | −0.50 | −0.52 |
| 329 | Jon Newman 2nd Cir. · D appointee | −0.07 | −0.31 | −0.20° |
| 330 | Raymond Fisher 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.07 | −0.36 | −0.82 |
| 331 | Edward Becker 3rd Cir. · R appointee | −0.08 | +0.07 | +0.39° |
| 332 | Beverly Martin 11th Cir. · D appointee | −0.08 | −0.36 | −0.03 |
| 333 | Sonia Sotomayor 2nd Cir. · D appointee · later a justice | −0.09 | −0.30 | −1.15° |
| 334 | Pierre Leval 2nd Cir. · D appointee | −0.10 | −0.30 | +0.21° |
| 335 | Patty Shwartz 3rd Cir. · D appointee | −0.10 | −0.44 | −0.60° |
| 336 | William Holloway 10th Cir. · D appointee | −0.10 | −0.33 | −0.16° |
| 337 | Stephen Breyer 1st Cir. · D appointee · later a justice | −0.10 | −0.41 | −0.74° |
| 338 | Paul Watford 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.10 | −0.36 | −0.82 |
| 339 | Patricia Millett D.C. Cir. · D appointee | −0.10 | −0.36 | −0.83 |
| 340 | Carl Stewart 5th Cir. · D appointee | −0.10 | −0.16 | −0.10° |
| 341 | Robert King 4th Cir. · D appointee | −0.10 | −0.32 | −0.64 |
| 342 | Robin Rosenbaum 11th Cir. · D appointee | −0.11 | −0.19 | −0.39° |
| 343 | Cornelia Pillard D.C. Cir. · D appointee | −0.11 | −0.36 | −1.03 |
| 344 | Cheryl Krause 3rd Cir. · D appointee | −0.11 | −0.31 | −0.85 |
| 345 | Robert Katzmann 2nd Cir. · D appointee | −0.11 | −0.33 | −0.52° |
| 346 | Adalberto Jordan 11th Cir. · D appointee | −0.11 | −0.19 | −0.45° |
| 347 | Jane Kelly 8th Cir. · D appointee | −0.11 | −0.35 | −1.10 |
| 348 | Marjorie Rendell 3rd Cir. · D appointee | −0.12 | −0.44 | −0.58 |
| 349 | Procter Hug 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.12 | −0.21 | +1.22 |
| 350 | Roger Gregory 4th Cir. · D appointee | −0.12 | +0.34 | −0.52 |
| 351 | James Sprouse 4th Cir. · D appointee | −0.12 | −0.28 | −0.45° |
| 352 | Fortunato Benavides 5th Cir. · D appointee | −0.13 | −0.12 | −0.33° |
| 353 | DeAndrea Benjamin 4th Cir. · D appointee | −0.13 | −0.32 | −0.36 |
| 354 | James Graves 5th Cir. · D appointee | −0.14 | −0.36 | −1.09° |
| 355 | Denny Chin 2nd Cir. · D appointee | −0.14 | −0.40 | +0.40 |
| 356 | Kermit Lipez 1st Cir. · D appointee | −0.14 | −0.44 | −0.50 |
| 357 | Albert Diaz 4th Cir. · D appointee | −0.14 | −0.20 | −0.61° |
| 358 | Barbara Keenan 4th Cir. · D appointee | −0.14 | −0.19 | −0.43° |
| 359 | Ojetta Thompson 1st Cir. · D appointee | −0.14 | −0.36 | −1.10 |
| 360 | Merrick Garland D.C. Cir. · D appointee | −0.14 | −0.44 | −0.59° |
| 361 | Joseph Hatchett 11th Cir. · D appointee | −0.15 | −0.20 | −0.53 |
| 362 | Pamela Harris 4th Cir. · D appointee | −0.15 | −0.36 | −0.85 |
| 363 | David Hamilton 7th Cir. · D appointee | −0.15 | −0.16 | −0.59 |
| 364 | James Logan 10th Cir. · D appointee | −0.16 | −0.50 | −0.17 |
| 365 | Ilana Rovner 7th Cir. · R appointee | −0.17 | +0.56 | +1.12 |
| 366 | John Peck 6th Cir. · D appointee | −0.17 | −0.07 | −0.14° |
| 367 | Richard Arnold 8th Cir. · D appointee | −0.17 | −0.34 | −0.45° |
| 368 | Martha Daughtrey 6th Cir. · D appointee | −0.18 | −0.34 | −0.66 |
| 369 | Ruggero Aldisert 3rd Cir. · D appointee | −0.18 | −0.58 | +0.04° |
| 370 | Andre Davis 4th Cir. · D appointee | −0.18 | −0.34 | −0.60 |
| 371 | Theodore McKee 3rd Cir. · D appointee | −0.18 | −0.33 | −0.46° |
| 372 | Frank Johnson 11th Cir. · D appointee | −0.18 | −0.20 | · |
| 373 | Morgan Christen 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.18 | −0.23 | −0.70° |
| 374 | Collins Seitz 3rd Cir. · D appointee | −0.19 | −0.34 | +0.03° |
| 375 | Henry Politz 5th Cir. · D appointee | −0.19 | −0.19 | +0.29° |
| 376 | Wilfred Feinberg 2nd Cir. · D appointee | −0.19 | −0.47 | −0.24° |
| 377 | Jane Stranch 6th Cir. · D appointee | −0.19 | −0.36 | −0.52 |
| 378 | Samuel Ervin 4th Cir. · D appointee | −0.19 | −0.24 | −0.34° |
| 379 | Rosemary Pooler 2nd Cir. · D appointee | −0.19 | −0.30 | −0.75° |
| 380 | James Wynn 4th Cir. · D appointee | −0.20 | −0.20 | −0.69 |
| 381 | Cecil Poole 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.20 | −0.39 | −0.63° |
| 382 | James Phillips 4th Cir. · D appointee | −0.20 | −0.24 | −0.46° |
| 383 | Diana Motz 4th Cir. · D appointee | −0.21 | −0.40 | −0.33° |
| 384 | Judith Rogers D.C. Cir. · D appointee | −0.21 | −0.44 | −0.73° |
| 385 | Barry Silverman 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.21 | −0.44 | −0.44° |
| 386 | Ransey Cole 6th Cir. · D appointee | −0.22 | −0.26 | −0.63° |
| 387 | Samuel Johnson 5th Cir. · D appointee | −0.22 | −0.16 | −0.39° |
| 388 | Dolores Sloviter 3rd Cir. · D appointee | −0.22 | −0.50 | −0.26° |
| 389 | Robert Henry 10th Cir. · D appointee | −0.22 | −0.14 | −0.34° |
| 390 | Jerre Williams 5th Cir. · D appointee | −0.22 | −0.16 | −0.37° |
| 391 | Hugh Bownes 1st Cir. · D appointee | −0.22 | −0.35 | −0.17° |
| 392 | Gilbert Merritt 6th Cir. · D appointee | −0.23 | −0.35 | +0.47 |
| 393 | John Butzner 4th Cir. · D appointee | −0.23 | −0.05 | −0.11° |
| 394 | Phyllis Kravitch 11th Cir. · D appointee | −0.23 | −0.12 | −0.61° |
| 395 | Jacqueline Nguyen 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.23 | −0.36 | −0.66 |
| 396 | Frank Coffin 1st Cir. · D appointee | −0.23 | −0.38 | −0.16° |
| 397 | Guido Calabresi 2nd Cir. · D appointee | −0.24 | −0.27 | −0.76 |
| 398 | Michelle Friedland 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.24 | −0.36 | −1.02 |
| 399 | M. McKeown 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.25 | −0.35 | −0.85 |
| 400 | Warren Ferguson 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.26 | −0.39 | +0.01° |
| 401 | James Oakes 2nd Cir. · R appointee | −0.26 | +0.10 | +0.21° |
| 402 | Francis Murnaghan 4th Cir. · D appointee | −0.26 | −0.43 | −0.26° |
| 403 | Mary Schroeder 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.26 | −0.22 | −0.24° |
| 404 | David Tatel D.C. Cir. · D appointee | −0.28 | −0.40 | −0.78 |
| 405 | William Fletcher 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.28 | −0.36 | −0.93 |
| 406 | Eric Clay 6th Cir. · D appointee | −0.28 | −0.40 | −0.75 |
| 407 | Thomas Tang 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.29 | −0.22 | −0.16° |
| 408 | Atsushi Tashima 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.29 | −0.36 | −0.39 |
| 409 | Thomas Fairchild 7th Cir. · D appointee | −0.30 | −0.58 | −0.35° |
| 410 | Dorothy Nelson 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.31 | −0.39 | −0.57° |
| 411 | M. Michael 4th Cir. · D appointee | −0.33 | −0.32 | −0.51 |
| 412 | Jesse Eschbach 7th Cir. · R appointee | −0.33 | +0.40 | −0.32° |
| 413 | Lewis Morgan 11th Cir. · D appointee | −0.33 | −0.04 | −0.23° |
| 414 | Kim Wardlaw 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.33 | −0.36 | −0.82° |
| 415 | Richard Cudahy 7th Cir. · D appointee | −0.34 | −0.33 | −0.80 |
| 416 | Carlos Lucero 10th Cir. · D appointee | −0.34 | −0.14 | −0.48 |
| 417 | Harry Edwards D.C. Cir. · D appointee | −0.35 | −0.50 | −0.37° |
| 418 | Boyce Martin 6th Cir. · D appointee | −0.36 | −0.30 | −0.07° |
| 419 | James Dennis 5th Cir. · D appointee | −0.37 | −0.16 | −0.12° |
| 420 | Karen Moore 6th Cir. · D appointee | −0.37 | −0.26 | −0.71 |
| 421 | James Browning 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.38 | −0.46 | +1.17 |
| 422 | William Norris 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.39 | −0.39 | −0.85 |
| 423 | Robert Boochever 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.40 | −0.28 | −0.16° |
| 424 | Elbert Tuttle 11th Cir. · R appointee | −0.40 | +0.28 | · |
| 425 | Donald Lay 8th Cir. · D appointee | −0.40 | −0.34 | −0.46° |
| 426 | Harry Pregerson 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.42 | −0.39 | −0.14° |
| 427 | Stephanie Seymour 10th Cir. · D appointee | −0.42 | −0.14 | −0.38° |
| 428 | Thomas Clark 11th Cir. · D appointee | −0.42 | −0.20 | −0.68° |
| 429 | Myron Bright 8th Cir. · D appointee | −0.43 | −0.37 | −0.04° |
| 430 | Richard Paez 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.43 | −0.36 | +0.97 |
| 431 | Monroe McKay 10th Cir. · D appointee | −0.44 | −0.50 | −0.39° |
| 432 | John Brown 5th Cir. · R appointee | −0.44 | +0.28 | · |
| 433 | Irving Kaufman 2nd Cir. · D appointee | −0.44 | −0.47 | · |
| 434 | Reynaldo Garza 5th Cir. · D appointee | −0.46 | −0.16 | −0.33° |
| 435 | Damon Keith 6th Cir. · D appointee | −0.46 | −0.43 | −0.55° |
| 436 | William Canby 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.46 | −0.22 | −0.21 |
| 437 | Marsha Berzon 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.48 | −0.36 | −0.83 |
| 438 | Irving Goldberg 5th Cir. · D appointee | −0.50 | −0.42 | −0.06° |
| 439 | Theodore McMillian 8th Cir. · D appointee | −0.52 | −0.38 | −0.31° |
| 440 | Stephen Reinhardt 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.55 | −0.39 | −0.29° |
| 441 | Nathaniel Jones 6th Cir. · D appointee | −0.57 | −0.38 | −0.88 |
| 442 | Betty Fletcher 9th Cir. · D appointee | −0.58 | −0.31 | −0.57 |
| 443 | Abner Mikva D.C. Cir. · D appointee | −0.59 | −0.50 | −0.92 |
| 444 | Rosemary Barkett 11th Cir. · D appointee | −0.60 | −0.23 | −0.65 |
| 445 | Patricia Wald D.C. Cir. · D appointee | −0.60 | −0.50 | −0.99 |
| 446 | Gerald Heaney 8th Cir. · D appointee | −0.64 | −0.44 | −0.92 |
| 447 | Anthony Celebrezze 6th Cir. · D appointee | −0.67 | −0.07 | −0.21° |
| 448 | Spottswood Robinson D.C. Cir. · D appointee | −0.67 | −0.34 | −0.41° |
| 449 | John Wisdom 5th Cir. · R appointee | −0.67 | +0.28 | · |
| 450 | Veronica Rossman 10th Cir. · D appointee | −0.67 | −0.24 | −0.96 |
| 451 | George Edwards 6th Cir. · D appointee | −0.80 | −0.52 | −0.27° |
19 more judges drew too few evaluations to score and hold no rank — the published file carries them at exactly zero, an artifact, not a measurement: Ruth Ginsburg (D.C. Cir.), Jack Miller (Fed. Cir.), Helen Nies (Fed. Cir.), Giles Rich (Fed. Cir.), Edward Smith (Fed. Cir.), Amy St. Eve (7th Cir.), Henry Floyd (4th Cir.), Joseph Bianco (2nd Cir.), Evan Wallach (Fed. Cir.), Jimmie Reyna (Fed. Cir.), Richard Taranto (Fed. Cir.), Raymond Chen (Fed. Cir.), Todd Hughes (Fed. Cir.), Jill Pryor (11th Cir.), Kara Stoll (Fed. Cir.), David Stras (8th Cir.), Michael Brennan (7th Cir.), Justin Walker (D.C. Cir.) and Thomas Kirsch (7th Cir.).
The Fifth Circuit test
The best argument for measuring judges by observed behavior rather than by the politics of their appointment sits at the bottom of this table. Three of the southern judges history calls the Fifth Circuit Four — the Republican appointees who enforced Brown v. Board of Education across the Deep South through the 1950s and 1960s — survive into the evaluation window: John Minor Wisdom (#449, −0.67), John R. Brown (#432, −0.44), and Elbert Tuttle (#424, −0.40, carried under the 11th Circuit, where the 1981 split placed him). The fourth, Richard Rives, died in 1982, before the window opens.
All three were appointed by a Republican president, so the appointment-based JCS scores all three at an identical +0.28 — conservative. The lawyers who actually appeared before them put Wisdom third from the liberal end of 451 careers. One of these rulers watched the judges work. The other read the election returns.
The reverse cases exist too, with a caveat attached. Two Democratic appointees sit near the conservative pole — Bailey Brown of the 6th Circuit (#6, +0.67, against a JCS of −0.35) and Francis Van Dusen of the 3rd (#8, +0.67, against −0.58) — but both scores rest on evaluation records so thin that no confidence interval could be computed for either. The Fifth Circuit finding stands on drawn intervals; these two are flagged as the anecdotes they are.
How much of this order is real
Less than a ranked table implies, and the drawn intervals are on the page so the reader can see exactly how much less. The median published interval is 0.20 units wide; the median gap between one rank and the next is 0.002 — the uncertainty around a typical judge is roughly a hundred times the distance to the next name on the list. 118 of the 451 intervals cross zero, meaning the data cannot even certify which half of the spectrum those judges belong to. And 186 of the 451 share their score with at least one other judge to the third decimal place, so whole runs of adjacent ranks are ties wearing different numbers.
The pathologies are instructive rather than disqualifying, and they cluster where the evaluation record is thin. The #2 judge on the list, William Timbers, carries an interval that runs from −0.22 to +1.89, spanning zero from the second-most-conservative seat. Amy Coney Barrett's three circuit years produced the widest interval in the dataset, −2.66 to +3.66 — wider than the entire scale it sits on. Another 7 judges have no computable interval at all, and 4 more — the Chief Justice among them — carry an interval of exactly zero width, which does not mean certainty; it means every evaluation said the same thing.
Read it the way the site's other rankings ask to be read: the ends are findings, the neighborhoods are real, and the difference between #200 and #230 is noise. What the intervals certify is the shape — who belongs at the poles, who belongs in the middle — not the third digit of anyone's rank.
Two rulers, one bench
Every judge scored by both measures: the observed JuDJIS against the appointment-based JCS, one dot per judge, hover for names. The measures correlate at 0.65 across 446 judges — and land on opposite sides of zero for 66 of them. The labeled dots are the judges discussed above; the off-diagonal corners are where one ruler or the other is wrong.
The lower-right corner is the Fifth Circuit corner: appointment politics said conservative, the courtroom said otherwise.
Method, and its limits
The ranking measure. Kevin L. Cope, "An Expert-Sourced Measure of Judicial Ideology," Political Analysis 34, no. 2 (2026): 258–277; replication data doi:10.7910/DVN/KZ5BJF (CC0). The project's home, with the interactive version of the data, is judjis.org. JuDJIS scores are estimated from evaluations of each judge published in the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary between 1990 and 2024 — the written assessments of lawyers who practiced before them — and validate better against case outcomes than the alternatives. The full score set appears on this page by kind permission of Prof. Cope (27 August 2026), for which this site thanks him.
The comparison measures. Lee Epstein, Andrew D. Martin, Jeffrey A. Segal & Chad Westerland, "The Judicial Common Space," JLEO 23 (2007): 303–325; 2024 release. Adam Bonica & Maya Sen, Judicial DIME Scores for Federal Judges (2024 update), doi:10.7910/DVN/CK3EEL (CC0). JCS assigns each judge a fixed score from the politics of the appointment; CFscore reads pre-appointment campaign-finance records, imputing where a judge never donated (the ° rows — 227 of the 451 measured judges, so read that column as context, not as measurement).
What the window means. A judge appears only if lawyers evaluated them between 1990 and 2024, so the list mixes the living and the dead, full careers and late-career fragments: the civil-rights-era judges here are scored on their senior-status years, not their famous ones. Judges confirmed from 2025 onward are outside the window entirely, and district judges are not scored at all — the consequences of both for the current Supreme Court shortlist are on the next-justice page.
What an expert-sourced score can and cannot see. The measure reads reputation among practitioners, which is observation, but observation with its own lens: a judge's score can reflect the mix of lawyers who wrote, the cases the circuit happened to draw, and the era's sense of where the center was. The published intervals are the honest part of the instrument — which is why this page draws them instead of printing the point estimates alone.
Sparse records. The published file carries 19 judges at a score of exactly zero with a degenerate interval. That is an evaluation-starved artifact, not a finding of moderation; this site flags them as unscored and gives them no rank.
Questions
Who is the most conservative federal appeals judge?
By JuDJIS — the expert-sourced measure built from what lawyers wrote about each judge in the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary — the most conservative scored record on the federal appeals bench is Donald Russell of the 4th Circuit at +0.93, and the most liberal is George Edwards of the 6th Circuit at −0.80. The ranking covers every circuit judge with evaluations between 1990 and 2024, sitting or not, so it is a ranking of careers rather than of today's bench.
Which Supreme Court justices appear in this ranking?
Eight members of the Court, sitting or recent, were scored as circuit judges. John Roberts ranks 9th of 451 and Samuel Alito 13th — the two most conservative circuit records of any justice — followed by Amy Coney Barrett (46th), Brett Kavanaugh (97th), Neil Gorsuch (131st), Sonia Sotomayor (333rd) and Stephen Breyer (337th). Ruth Bader Ginsburg's D.C. Circuit record drew too few evaluations in the 1990–2024 window to score, and Clarence Thomas and Ketanji Brown Jackson do not appear in the dataset at all.
Why is a judge missing from this list?
The dataset covers the 470 federal appeals judges with Almanac of the Federal Judiciary evaluations between 1990 and 2024. Judges whose service ended before 1990 are absent; judges confirmed in 2025 or later are outside the window; district judges are not scored at all; and 19 of the 470 drew too few evaluations to score and are listed without ranks below the table.
Do the different ideology measures agree?
Broadly, and with instructive exceptions. Across the 446 judges scored by both, JuDJIS and the appointment-based Judicial Common Space correlate at 0.65 — and still disagree about which side of zero 66 of them are on. The starkest case is John Minor Wisdom, the Republican appointee who helped desegregate the Deep South: his appointment-based JCS calls him conservative, while the lawyers who appeared before him rated him the third most liberal judge of the 451 measured.
Companion pages: the Supreme Court itself, left to right, how conservative the current Court is, and who is next in line for it.