Fifth Circuit Seal
Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
Hon. Jennifer W. Elrod, Chief Judge
Lyle W. Cayce, Clerk of Court

Each appeal is handled by a deputy clerk. You can identify the right one from your case number, then look them up in the Case Management Team directory.

Every Fifth Circuit case number starts with a two-digit year showing when the case was docketed (e.g., 23, 24, 25), followed by a hyphen and a five-digit number. The first digit after the hyphen identifies the originating court or case type.

Reading the case number
First digit Originating court / case type Example
1 Northern District of Texas 25-10025
2 Southern District of Texas (Houston) 25-20875
3 Louisiana district courts 25-30154
4 Southern District of Texas (non-Houston) & Eastern District of Texas 25-41002
5 Western District of Texas 25-50881
6 Mississippi district courts & most agency cases 25-60214
7 Newly docketed death-penalty cases 25-70010
9 Miscellaneous cases 25-90102

Compare your case number with the Case Management Team directory below to find the deputy clerk to contact.