Federal judiciary · U.S. Courts of Appeals
Judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit is one of the thirteen U.S. Courts of Appeals — the intermediate appellate courts of the federal judiciary that sit between the district courts and the Supreme Court of the United States. This page lists every judge currently serving on the court: those in regular active service, shown first, followed by those who have taken senior status. A senior judge is not retired — having met the age-and-service threshold set by statute, a senior judge continues to hear cases on a reduced caseload while opening a seat for a new appointment, so each senior judge below is still a sitting Article III judge. Circuit judges are nominated by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate, and under Article III of the Constitution they hold office during good behavior — in practice, for life, until they resign, are impeached, or die in office. Unlike senators and representatives, a circuit judge represents no state and belongs to no party while serving; each profile records the President who appointed the judge, the seat they fill, their confirmation and commission dates, and their full span of service, but never assigns the judge a party of their own. Each row links to a sourced page covering the judge's biography, appointment and service record, and the external authority records — the Federal Judicial Center Biographical Directory, Wikipedia, and Wikidata — that back every fact. The full machine-readable roster is published as a versioned JSON dataset for downstream researchers and language models.
- In active service
- 10
- Senior status
- 6
- Currently serving
- 16
- Court
- www.ca8.uscourts.gov
In active service10
- James B. LokenActiveActive service · 1990–presentAppointed by George H W Bush
- Lavenski R. SmithActiveActive service · 2002–presentAppointed by George W Bush
- Steven M. CollotonActiveActive service · 2003–presentAppointed by George W Bush
- Raymond W. GruenderActiveActive service · 2004–presentAppointed by George W Bush
- Bobby E. ShepherdActiveActive service · 2006–presentAppointed by George W Bush
- Jane Louise KellyActiveActive service · 2013–presentAppointed by Barack Obama
- Ralph R. EricksonActiveActive service · 2017–presentAppointed by Donald Trump
- David Ryan StrasActiveActive service · 2018–presentAppointed by Donald Trump
- Jonathan Allen KobesActiveActive service · 2018–presentAppointed by Donald Trump
- Leonard Steven GraszActiveActive service · 2018–presentAppointed by Donald Trump
Senior status6
- Pasco Middleton Bowman IISeniorSenior status · 1983–presentAppointed by Ronald Reagan
- Roger Leland WollmanSeniorSenior status · 1985–presentAppointed by Ronald Reagan
- David Rasmussen HansenSeniorSenior status · 1991–presentAppointed by George H W Bush
- Morris Sheppard ArnoldSeniorSenior status · 1992–presentAppointed by George H W Bush
- Michael Joseph MelloySeniorSenior status · 2002–presentAppointed by George W Bush
- William Duane BentonSeniorSenior status · 2004–presentAppointed by George W Bush
Related on The Candidate
- Federal judiciaryHow the Article III judiciary fits into the federal government.Open
- Supreme Court justicesThe court above the circuits — every sitting and former Justice.Open
- U.S. presidentsThe appointing authority — every president who has named a federal judge.Open
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