28 U.S.C. § 48 — Terms of court

(a) This subsection lists the cities where each court of appeals holds its regular sessions, plus any other place the court designates by rule within its circuit. The list runs from the District of Columbia Circuit (Washington) through the Eleventh Circuit (Atlanta, Jacksonville, Montgomery), plus the Federal Circuit (District of Columbia and any other listed place the court directs). (b) Each court of appeals may also hold special sessions anywhere within its circuit, whenever the business of the court requires it, with whatever notice the court orders. At a special session, the court can handle any business it could handle at a regular session. (c) A court of appeals may skip ("pretermit") a regular session at any location, if there isn't enough business or for other good cause. (d) The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit must schedule its session times and places to give citizens a reasonable, convenient, and low-cost opportunity to appear before the court. (e) A court of appeals may hold a special session outside its own circuit, anywhere in the United States, if its business requires it. This requires a finding — made by either the chief judge (or, if unavailable, the most senior available active judge) or the circuit's judicial council — that emergency conditions mean no location inside the circuit is reasonably available for the special session. The court can transact any business at this out-of-circuit special session that it could transact at a regular session. (f) If a court issues such an emergency out-of-circuit order, it must, through the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, send notice of the order and the reasons for it to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees. Within 180 days after the order expires, the court must also send those committees a brief report describing the order's impact — including the reasons for it, how long it lasted, its effect on the people involved in the cases, and the costs it created for the judiciary. The court must also give the United States Marshals Service reasonable notice before any such special session begins.