United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
(Fed. Cir.)
Location	Howard T. Markey National Courts Building (717 Madison Place, NW Washington, D.C.)
Established	October 1, 1982
Judges	12
Circuit Justice	John Roberts
Chief Judge	Kimberly A. Moore
cafc.uscourts.gov

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. or C.A.F.C.) is one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has special appellate jurisdiction over certain categories of specialized cases in the U.S. federal court system. Specifically, it has exclusive appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal cases involving patents, trademark registrations, government contracts, veterans' benefits, public safety officers' benefits, federal employees' benefits, and various other types of cases.^[1] The Federal Circuit has no jurisdiction over criminal, bankruptcy, immigration, or U.S. state law cases. It is headquartered at the Howard T. Markey National Courts Building in Washington, DC.

The Federal Circuit was created in 1982 with passage of the Federal Courts Improvement Act, which merged the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals and the appellate division of the United States Court of Claims, making the judges of the former courts into circuit judges.^[2][3] In addition to the Markey Building, the court also occupies the adjacent Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House, former Cosmos Club building, and the Cutts-Madison House in Washington, D.C., on Lafayette Square. The court sits from time to time in locations other than Washington, and its judges can and do sit by designation on the benches of other courts of appeals and federal district courts. As of 2016^[update], Washington and Lee University School of Law's Millhiser Moot Courtroom had been designated as the continuity of operations site for the court.^[4]