U.S. Courts of Appeals — Judicial Business 2025

Appeals by pro se litigants, which constituted 50 percent of new filings, climbed 9 percent to 20,878 cases. Thirty-five percent of all filings by pro se litigants were prisoner petitions. Eighty-eight percent of the 8,430 prisoner petitions received were filed pro se, as were 85 percent of the 3,544 original proceedings and miscellaneous applications.

Most filings (77 percent) arose from cases originating in the U.S. district courts. Civil appeals, which amounted to 55 percent of total filings in the courts of appeals, rose 7 percent to 22,812.

Criminal appeals, which accounted for 22 percent of total filings in the courts of appeals, fell 7 percent to 9,392. Reductions occurred in appeals in cases involving drug offenses, firearms and explosives offenses, sex offenses, justice system offenses, regulatory offenses, and unclassified offenses. Appeals in cases addressing violent offenses, property offenses, immigration offenses, general offenses, and traffic offenses increased. 

Administrative agency appeals rose 12 percent to 5,611 and represented 13 percent of total filings in the courts of appeals. Appeals of Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decisions, which grew 15 percent, constituted 80 percent of administrative agency appeals. Sixty-five percent of BIA appeals were filed in the Ninth Circuit, and 11 percent were filed in the Second Circuit.

Original proceedings and miscellaneous applications filed in the courts of appeals climbed 18 percent to 3,544. Bankruptcy appeals increased 2 percent and amounted to 1 percent of total appellate filings.

Case terminations went up 1 percent to 40,411. As filings exceeded terminations, pending cases rose 6 percent to 33,748.

Since 2021, filings in the courts of appeals have declined 6 percent. Bankruptcy appeals have dropped 37 percent. Prisoner petitions have decreased 20 percent. Criminal appeals and administrative agency appeals both have fallen 12 percent, and original proceedings and miscellaneous applications have gone down 1 percent. Other civil appeals filings have increased 13 percent.

For data on the activity of the U.S. courts of appeals, see Table 1 and Table 2 and the B series of tables.

Bankruptcy Appellate Panels

The Bankruptcy Appellate Panels (BAPs) reported that total filings rose 4 percent (up 14 appeals) to 329 in 2025. BAPs are three-judge panels authorized to hear appeals of bankruptcy court decisions. BAPs are units of the federal courts of appeals, and each BAP must be established by a circuit judicial council. Five federal judicial circuits—the First, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits—have BAPs.

BAP filings increased 17 percent in the Eighth Circuit (up 2 appeals), 15 percent in the Ninth Circuit (up 31 appeals), and 19 percent in the Tenth Circuit (up 6 appeals). Filings dropped 43 percent in the First Circuit (down 16 appeals) and 32 percent in the Sixth Circuit (down 9 appeals). BAP case filings tend to lag bankruptcy case filings by one to two years.

Since 2021, BAP filings have fallen 19 percent (down 79 appeals). All five BAP circuits reported reductions in filings over this period. The Ninth Circuit had the greatest numeric decline, a decrease of 32 appeals (down 12 percent). The Tenth Circuit had 17 fewer appeals (down 31 percent), the Sixth Circuit had 15 fewer appeals (down 44 percent), the First Circuit had 12 fewer appeals (down 36 percent), and the Eighth Circuit had 3 fewer appeals (down 18 percent).

For data on the activity of the BAPs, see Table BAP-1 and Table BAP-2.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

The jurisdiction of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is defined by subject matter rather than by geographic boundaries. This court is responsible for appeals involving customs and patents; rulings by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, U.S. Court of International Trade, and U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims; and decisions by several federal administrative bodies.

Filings in the Federal Circuit dropped 13 percent to 1,270 in 2025 (down by 198 cases). The largest numeric decrease was a reduction of 95 cases in appeals of decisions by the Merit Systems Protection Board (down 32 percent). The largest numeric increase was a rise of 7 cases in petitions for writs of certiorari (up 15 percent). The highest numbers of filings were reported for appeals of decisions by the Patent and Trademark Office (349 cases), the U.S. district courts (309 cases), and the Merit Systems Protection Board (206 cases).

Terminations of cases rose 8 percent to 1,498. The number of pending cases went down 13 percent to 1,500.

Filings in the Federal Circuit were 20 percent lower in 2025 than in 2021 (down 312 appeals). The largest numeric reduction occurred in appeals of decisions by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which fell by 176 appeals to 154 (down 53 percent). The largest numeric growth occurred in appeals of decisions by the Merit Systems Protection Board, which rose by 76 appeals to 206 (up 58 percent). Since 2021, case terminations have risen by 9 percent (up 128 appeals), and pending cases have climbed 4 percent (up 51 appeals).

For data on the activity of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, see Table B-8.