Patrick Errol Higginbotham (born December 16, 1938) is an American judge and lawyer who serves as a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 34/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 910/year
Texas Northern District Court · 1975–1982Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1982–2006
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
- Southern Methodist University Law SchoolAdjunct professor of constitutional law · 1976
- Private practice, Dallas, Texas1964–1975
U.S. Air Force judge advocate1961–1964
Appointments
1982–2006 · Appointed by Ronald Reagan (Republican)
1975–1982 · Appointed by Gerald Ford (Republican)Term ended: Appointment to Another Judicial Position
Education
LL.B. · 1961- University of AlabamaB.A. · 1960