Stephen A. Higginson

Stephen Andrew Higginson (born April 12, 1961) is a circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Presiding Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review.

Early life and education
Born in Boston, Higginson graduated from the Groton School in Groton, Massachusetts in 1979. He then attended Harvard University and graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College with an BA in Government and English in 1983. After earning a MPhil from the University of Cambridge the following year, he enrolled in Yale Law School, where he graduated with a JD in 1987. During his time at Yale, he served as the editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal.

From 1987 to 1988, Higginson served as a law clerk for Judge Patricia Wald of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He then served as a law clerk for Justice Byron White on the United States Supreme Court from 1988 to 1989.

Career
Higginson became an Assistant United States Attorney in 1989, working in the criminal division for the District of Massachusetts. In 1993, he moved to the Eastern District of Louisiana, and became chief of appeals in 1995. From 2004 to 2011, he worked part-time as a prosecutor, continuing to supervise the appellate section. In 2004, he became a full-time faculty member at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. He taught criminal procedure, constitutional law and evidence. Higginson is an elected member of the American Law Institute.

Federal judicial service
On May 5, 2011, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Higginson to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and submitted the nomination to the Senate on May 9. Senator Mary Landrieu had recommended Higginson to Obama in November 2010. The Senate confirmed Higginson's nomination by an 88–0 vote on October 31, 2011. Higginson received his commission on November 2, 2011 and filled the seat vacated by Judge Jacques L. Wiener Jr., who assumed senior status in 2010. On February 25, 2021, Higginson was appointed to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review by Chief Justice John Roberts.

In June 2017, Higginson authored the majority opinion in Plummer v. University of Houston, in which the Fifth Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling that a university did not violate the Due Process Clause or Title IX when it expelled a student for committing a campus sexual assault, as well as his girlfriend, who had recorded the assault and shared the video on social media. On April 26, 2022, Higginson dissented when the 5th Circuit officially rejected challenges to Texas SB 8, a law banning abortion within the state after six weeks gestational age and allows private individuals, or "bounty hunters", to sue anyone who performed or helped a woman get an abortion after six weeks. Judge Higginson agreed with the majority opinion, but, in light of a Supreme Court determination, would remand the case.

Personal
Higginson is married to Collette Creppell, the Vice President of Campus Planning and Design at Chapman University. The couple has three children and lives in New Orleans.