United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is the federal intermediate appellate court that hears appeals from the federal district courts in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. Those districts are the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky, the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan, the Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio, and the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Tennessee. Cited in case citations as 6th Cir., the court is composed of sixteen judges and is based at the Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is one of 13 United States courts of appeals. The federal courts were divided into six circuits in 1801, but a circuit court of appeals was not established until the passage of the Judiciary Act of 1891. William Howard Taft, the only person ever to serve as both President and Chief Justice of the United States, once served on the Sixth Circuit, and four other judges of the court have been elevated to the Supreme Court, the last being Potter Stewart in 1958.