With the enactment in 1891 of the Evarts Act, a court of appeals was created in each of the nation's nine circuits. What is now called the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit began as a three-judge court covering New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, expanding over time to thirteen active judges. Over the past 125 years, the Second Circuit has adjudicated thousands upon thousands of cases, and with its tradition of oral argument, it is open to litigants regardless of status, economic or otherwise. Planned as part of the celebration of the Second Circuit's 125th anniversary, this volume contains biographies of all 74 judges who have sat on the Second Circuit, from Lewis Bartholomew Woodruff (1809–1875), who presided over the pre-Evarts Circuit Courts, to Sonia Sotomayor, who left the Second Circuit in 2009 to serve as a Justice on the Supreme Court. Also included are essays on the life and career of William Maxwell Evarts Act and on the story of the Second Circuit itself.
