The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) announced circuit assignments for the chief justice and the associate justices on November 20. Under Title 28, United States Code, Section 42, each SCOTUS justice is assigned to one of the 13 U.S. courts of appeal. The U.S. courts of appeal are the intermediate appellate courts of the U.S. federal courts.
The circuit justice is responsible for ruling on motions arising from his or her assigned circuit and traditionally refers motions from that circuit to the court as a whole.
The circuit assignments for the 2020-2021 term are:
- Chief Justice John G. Roberts – Assigned to the 4th Circuit, the Federal Circuit, and the District of Columbia Circuit.
- Justice Clarence Thomas – Assigned to the 11th Circuit
- Justice Stephen Breyer – Assigned to the 1st Circuit
- Justice Samuel Alito – Assigned to the 3rd and 5th Circuits
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor – Assigned to the 2nd Circuit
- Justice Elena Kagan – Assigned to the 9th Circuit
- Justice Neil Gorsuch – Assigned to the 10th Circuit
- Justice Brett Kavanaugh – Assigned to the 6th and 8th Circuits
- Justice Amy Coney Barrett – Assigned to the 7th Circuit
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