The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is an intermediate federal appellate court based in New Orleans, Louisiana. It hears appeals from federal district courts in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Sometimes it will hold oral argument in Houston, Texas.
In 1981, the circuit split in two, with Alabama, Florida and Georgia, which had formerly been part of the Fifth Circuit's jurisdiction, being split away to form the new Eleventh Circuit.
As of 2021, the Fifth Circuit had a 12-5 GOP-Dem split among active judges, including 6 Trump-appointed judges, thereby making it the most conservative federal appellate court in the Nation. Among senior judges (who do not join en banc sittings unless they were on the panel), this Court has an even stronger 7-2 GOP-Dem majority.
By random assignment, occasionally a Dem-appointed majority presides over any particular case. If the case is significant enough, then it subsequently be reheard and decided by the full court ("en banc").