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Homeward Bound

Appeals court at a glance

LOCATION: Atlanta; has jurisdiction over federal cases originating in Alabama, Florida and Georgia.

JUDGES: There are 12 active judges and six senior judges on the 11th Circuit. Three-judge panels are randomly drawn to consider cases. Senior judges do not regularly hear cases.

AFFILIATION: Seven of the court's active judges were appointed by Republicans, five by Democrats. Presidents Clinton and George H.W. Bush each appointed four of the active judges.

CHIEF JUDGE: J.L. Edmondson; appointed to court in 1986 by President Reagan. Became chief judge in 2002.

REPUTATION: The court, in terms of its decision-making reputation, is considered moderate to conservative, according to former U.S. Attorney Kent Alexander, who has handled cases before it in the past.

HIGH-PROFILE DECISIONS:

- Elian Gonzalez: The court was at the center of the Elian Gonzalez case in June 2000. It issued an order that kept the Cuban boy in the country while his American relatives appealed plans to reunite him with his father in Cuba, and weeks later lifted that order so the boy could return to Cuba.

- 2000 Election: A month after the 2000 presidential election, the court rejected George W. Bush's request for an emergency order stopping hand recounts in Florida. Minutes after the ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the recounts and agreed to hear Bush's appeal.

- Masters Protests: A three-judge court panel in 2004 struck down an Augusta, Ga., ordinance that kept protesters a half-mile away from the private Augusta National Golf Club during the Masters tournament. Protesters were challenging the club's all-male membership rule.

- Ten Commandments: A three-judge court panel in 2004 upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit that sought to return ousted Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's Ten Commandments monument to the Alabama Judicial Building rotunda.

- Gay Adoptions: The court in 2004 upheld a Florida law that prohibits gay people from adopting.

- Judge William Pryor: The court ruled in 2004 that President Bush did not overstep his authority when he appointed William Pryor to 11th Circuit bench while the Senate was on a holiday break. It rejected a challenge by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., that the appointment undermined the Senate's right to confirm or reject the president's judicial nominees.

[Last modified March 22, 2005, 17:23:40]