Stephen Andrew Higginson (born 1961) is an American lawyer and jurist serving since 2011 as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He also serves as the Presiding Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review.
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 46/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 240/year
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals · 2011–
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
Eastern District of LouisianaAssistant U.S. attorney · 1993–2011
Associate professor · 2004–2011- District of MassachusettsAssistant U.S. attorney · 1989–1993
Law clerk , Hon. Byron White · 1988–1989
Law clerk , Hon. Patricia Wald · 1987–1988
Appointments
2011–present · Appointed by Barack Obama (Democratic)
Education
- University of CambridgeM.Phil. · 1992
J.D. · 1987- Harvard CollegeA.B. · 1983