Courts & rulings
District of Columbia · highest court
District of Columbia Court of Appeals
Appointed
Chief: Designated by the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission for a renewable 4-year term..
Justices
All judges & justices →- Anna Blackburne-Rigsby
- Corinne A. Beckwith
- Catharine F. Easterly
- Roy W. McLeese III
- Joshua Deahl
- John P. Howard III
- Vijay Shanker
Roster as of 2026-06-13.
District of Columbia Home Rule Act (no state constitution; D.C. operates under the U.S. Constitution and Congress's Article I authority, with the Home Rule Act as its charter)
Adopted 1973. Its declaration of rights sits in No separate D.C. bill of rights; individual rights derive directly from the U.S. Constitution (federal Bill of Rights). This court has the final word on what the District of Columbia constitution means.
Lockstep with the federal Constitution
How a state reads its own rights provisions relative to the federal floor, lockstep vs departure.
State-court structure and selection methods are from official and reference sources; the justice roster is point-in-time. Civibrief carries each state's highest court (lower state courts are out of scope for now).