Take the Fifth

We report after each month on interesting statistics from the data we generate from the daily opinion summaries from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and at the end of each court year (Oct.-Sept.) we will aggregate that–all of which provides useful insights into the inner workings of the Court, the relative success of various appeals, and more. The December 2025 statistics are based on 204 total opinions released by the Court (33 more than in the previous month):

Where the appeals are coming from

• In December 2025, the Eastern District of Louisiana, Middle District of Louisiana, and the Northern District of Mississippi logged perfect affirmance rates, with only affirmances or appeal-dismissals on opinions originating in those districts (8 from the E.D. La., 3 from the M.D. La., and 8 from the N.D. Miss.).
• The Western District of Texas was the district with the most decisions originating from there in December, 42 total decisions. From the district, 36 of those were full affirmances or appeal dismissals; 3 were partial affirmances/partial reversals/vacaturs; and 3 were full vacaturs.
• From the Northern District of Texas, 36 decisions were full affirmances/appeal dismissals; 1 was a partial affirmance/partial reversal/vacatur; 2 were full reversals; and 2 were full vacaturs.
• From decisions from the Southern District of Texas there were 31 full affirmances/appeal dismissals; 1 partial affirmance/partial reversal/vacatur; 1 full reversal; and 5 full vacaturs.
• From the Eastern District of Texas there were 15 full affirmances/appeal dismissals; and 1 full vacatur.
• From the Western District of Louisiana there were 13 full affirmance/appeal dismissals; 1 full reversal; 1 full vacatur; and 1 published denial of en banc rehearing.
• From the Southern District of Mississippi, there were 9 full affirmances/appeal dismissals; 1 full reversal; and 2 full vacaturs.
• On petitions for review of Board of Immigration Appeals orders, 16 petitions were denied or dismissed; and 1 was granted.
• On direct agency review, there was 1 published denial of en banc rehearing.

What the appeals are about, and who they benefit

• The largest number of appeals were of criminal conviction and/or sentencing issues. 93 resulted in full affirmances/appeal dismissals; 1 partial affirmance/partial reversal/vacatur; 2 full reversals; and 5 full vacaturs. 93 of the dispositions favored the prosecution, and 8 favored the defendant.
• In immigration cases, there were 2 full affirmances; 16 dismissals/denials of petitions for review of Board of Immigration Appeals orders; and 1 grant of a petition for review of a BIA order. 18 dispositions favored the government; and 1 favored the immigrant.
• In prisoner suits, there were 6 full affirmances/appeal dismissals; and 1 full vacatur. All 7 dispositions favored the government defendants.
• In commercial – civil cases, there were 15 full affirmances/appeal dismissals; 1 partial affirmance/partial reversal/vacatur; 1 full reversal; and 2 full vacaturs. 14 of the dispositions favored the defendant, and 5 favored the plaintiff.
• In civil rights/constitutional claims (non-prisoner-suits), there were 15 full affirmances/appeal dismissals; 2 partial affirmances/partial reversals/vacaturs; 1 full vacatur; and 1 published denial of en banc rehearing. 16 of the dispositions favored the defendant; and 3 favored the plaintiff.
• In employment/labor law cases, there were 8 full affirmances/appeal dismissals; 1 full reversal; 1 full vacatur; and 1 published denial of en banc rehearing. 9 of the dispositions favored an employer; and 2 favored the employee.
• In qualified immunity cases, there were 4 full affirmances; 1 full reversal; and 2 full vacaturs. 2 of the dispositions favored the government defendant; and 5 favored the plaintiff.
• In personal injury/non-commercial tort cases, there were 2 full affirmances/appeal dismissals. Both dispositions favored the defendant.
• In administrative law cases, there was 1 full vacatur. That 1 disposition favored the defendant/agency.
• In bankruptcy cases, there were 2 full affirmances. Both dispositions favored the debtor.
• In maritime law cases, there were 2 full affirmances; and 1 full vacatur. 1 disposition favored the defendant; and 2 favored the plaintiff.
• In habeas corpus cases, there were 4 full affirmances/appeal dismissals. All 4 dispositions favored the government defendant.
• In arbitration law cases, there were 3 full affirmances. 2 dispositions favored the defendant; and 1 favored the plaintiff.
• In tax law cases, there was 1 full affirmance. That 1 disposition favored the taxation authority.
• In voting/election law cases, there was 1 partial affirmance/partial reversal/vacatur. That 1 disposition favored the plaintiff challenger of the election law.
• In products liability cases, there were 2 full affirmances. Both dispositions favored the defendant.

Importance of oral argument?

• In December 2025, there were 39 decisions resulting from orally argued cases: 24 were fully affirmed; 5 were only partially affirmed, but partially reversed or vacated; 4 were fully reversed; 3 were fully vacated; 2 resulted ultimately in published denials of en banc rehearing; and 1 was a denial of petition to review a BIA order. So, decisions in December from the orally argued cases resulted in a 64.1% full-affirmance rate. 21 of the December decisions from orally argued cases favored the defendant; while 18 favored the plaintiff.
• In the 11 December decisions where oral argument was withdrawn after initially being granted, 7 resulted in full affirmances; 1 was fully reversed; and 3 were full vacaturs; for a 63.6% full-affirmance rate for cases initially ordered for oral argument but then not orally argued. 8 of those oral-argument-withdrawn decisions favored the defendant; while 3 favored the plaintiff.
• In the 152 December decisions that were never ordered for oral argument, 128 were full affirmances; 8 were fully vacated; 15 were denials of petitions for review of BIA orders; and 1 was a grant of a petition for review of a BIA order, for a 94.1% full-affirmance rate. 141 of the no-oral-argument decisions favored the defendant; and 11 favored the plaintiff.

How much law is being made?

• Of the 204 opinions released by the 5th Circuit in December 2025, 40 were designated for publication. 22 of those were full affirmances; 5 were partial affirmances/partial reversals/vacaturs; 3 were full reversals; 5 were full vacaturs; 2 were published denials of en banc rehearing; and 3 were denials of petitions for review of BIA orders.
• 162 of the December opinions were unpublished, including 137 full affirmances/appeal dismissals; 2 full reversals; 9 full vacaturs; 13 denials/dismissals of petitions to review BIA orders; and 1 grant of a petition to review a BIA order.

Who was doing what on the Court?

Who was the busiest, in that they were on the most panels issuing opinions in December? (Judge Wilson). Who was the busiest writer, authoring the most attributed opinions (including majority, concurring, and dissenting opinions)? (Judges Richman and Oldham). Who concurred the most in separate opinions? (Judge Ho, with 3). Who authored the most dissenting or dubitante opinions? (Judge Oldham, with 5). How many opinions did the Court issue per curiam, with no author listed? (160, with 156 of those unpublished; but 2 of the designated “per curiam” decisions were not “true” per curia for the court, as they were accompanied by separate concurrences and/or dissents). Who participated in making the most law, participating in the most panels with published opinions? (Judges Richman and Southwick). We have all that below (senior-status judges in italics):

Judge	On panel	In majority	Author majority	Author concur	Author dissent/ dubitante	Published	Unpublished
Elrod	14	12	1	1	1	9	5
Jones	32	29	2		1	8	23
Smith	28	26	2			7	21
Stewart	36	36	2			8	28
Richman	27	25	6		1	10	17
Southwick	31	31	2			10	21
Haynes	41	41				8	33
Graves	35	34	1		1	6	29
Higginson	31	30	3		1	8	23
Willett	34	34	2			6	28
Ho	38	38	3	3		6	32
Duncan	31	30				3	28
Engelhardt	28	27	1			6	22
Oldham	28	23	2		5	9	19
Wilson	42	41	2			6	36
Douglas	28	28	1			5	23
Ramirez	31	30		1		7	24
Dist. Ct. Judge sitting by designation	4	4	1			2	2
King	24	24				3	21
Higginbotham	20	20	1			3	17
Davis	11	11	1			1	10
Wiener	13	13	1			3	10
Barksdale	8	8					8
Dennis	11	11		2 (+1 w/o op.)		3	8
Clement	7	7	2			3	4
Unattributed/ Clerk
per curiam			160			4	156

Conclusions? Most decisions in December, as always, were unanimous, with 10 dissents and 8 concurrences out of 204 opinions. Among senior-status judges, Judges King and Higginbotham had the heaviest participation in panels, with as much as some of the active-status judges. Meanwhile, among active-status judges, the lightest production in December was from Judge Richman (and Chief Judge Elrod, though often the administrative duties of Chief can act as a drag on opinion numbers).

Wrap it all together, and an opinion in December 2025 was most likely to be an unpublished per curiam affirming a criminal decision from the Western District of Texas, with Judges Wilson, Haynes, and Ho on the panel.