The Sneaky Extra Rule You Have to Remember Sometimes When You're Citing the Federal Fifth Circuit

Every part of the United States of America is served by a federal district court, and those-- in turn-- are served by federal circuit courts of appeals. Eleven of them are numbered. Each of those cover a geographical area.

First: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, and Rhode Island.
Second: Connecticut, New York, and Vermont.
Third: Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the Virgin Islands.
Fourth: Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Fifth: Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
Sixth: Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee.
Seventh: Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
Eighth: Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
Ninth: Alaska, Arizona, California, Territory of Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Territory of the Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, and Washington.
Tenth: Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming.
Eleventh: Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.

There are two other I will save for a later post: the District of Columbia Circuit-- I know, it's kind of geographical-- and the Federal Circuit, which is the only geographically general content-specialized federal court of appeal.

So what's the special rule about the Fifth Circuit? It is Rule 10.8.2 of the Bluebook, A Uniform System of Citation. On October 1 1981, the Fifth Circuit was divided to create the new, smaller Fifth Circuit and an Eleventh Circuit.

So:

1. Cite decisions rendered in 1981 and labeled "5th Cir." by month.
2. Give unit information whenever possible (it seems the court began the transition by having a Fifth Circuit Unit A and a Fifth Circuit Unit B.
3. Designate as "Former 5th" any nonunit judgment labeled as a Former Fifth judgment and rendered after September 30, 1981.

Knowing this rule separates the appellate children from the appellate grown-ups. Although the other circuits have had coverage changes, this separation is the only one the Bluebook cares about.