When litigating a civil action in federal district court, a party generally has the right to appeal to a federal court of appeals (also known as a circuit court) from a final order or judgment that awards relief against it or denies some of the relief it sought (28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 1295; Forney v. Apfel, 524 U.S. 266, 271 (1998)). An aggrieved party normally also has the right to appeal from certain types of interlocutory (that is, non-final) orders, such as orders granting or denying injunctions (28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)). If an order or judgment is not appealable as of right, an aggrieved party may often petition for permission to appeal (FRAP 5(a); FRCP 23(f); 28 U.S.C. §§ 1292(b) and 1453(c)(1)).

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit hears most appeals from the federal district courts in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, as well as the federal courts in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (28 U.S.C. §§ 41, 1294 and 48 U.S.C. §§ 1424, 1821).

This Toolkit contains resources explaining the process for litigating civil appeals in the Ninth Circuit, including: