Gregg Jeffrey Costa at a glance
- Current role
- U.S. Circuit Judge
- Jurisdiction
- National federal courts · Federal
- Judicial service
- Active
Gregg Jeffrey Costa
U.S. Circuit Judge · U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Service record and verification
Judicial service and assignments
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · U.S. Circuit Judge · Not Current In Effective Roster · June 2, 2014–Not Current In Effective Roster · Assignment source ↗
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · U.S. Circuit Judge · Active · Assignment source ↗
Appointment and verification
- Source authority
- CourtListener / Free Law Project
Biography
Professional career
- Judge, Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 2014-present
- American attorney and former federal judge who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 2014 to 2022 and previously as a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Texas
- Judicial Service: U.S. District Judge, S.D. Texas — appointed by President Barack Obama, confirmed April 26, 2012; served until June 2, 2014
- Assistant U.S. attorney, Southern District of Texas, 2005-2012
- Private Practice: Associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in Houston (2002–2005)
- Law clerk, Hon. William H. Rehnquist, Supreme Court of the United States, 2001-2002
- Law Clerkships: Clerk to Judge A. Raymond Randolph (D.C. Circuit, 1999–2000) and to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist (U.S. Supreme Court, 2001–2002)
- Bristow fellow, Office of the Solicitor General, U.S. Department of Justice, 2000-2001
- Law clerk, Hon. A. Raymond Randolph, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1999-2000
- Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- In summary, Gregg Jeffrey Costa is a former federal judge with a distinguished career in teaching, law clerking, prosecution, and appellate and trial judging, now active in high-profile litigation practice
Education
- He taught elementary school in Sunflower, Mississippi, through the Teach for America program (1994–1996) before earning his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 1999, serving as Editor-in-Chief of the Texas Law Review.
- Dartmouth College, where he interned for the Democratic National Committee — B.A. (1994)
Additional information
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit — appointed June 2, 2014, confirmed 97–0; resigned August 31, 2022.
- Private practice, Houston, TX, 2002-2005
- Born June 19, 1972, in Baltimore, Maryland.
- Date of birth: 1972-01-01
- After resigning from the bench, Costa returned to private practice as a partner at Gibson Dunn
- focusing on complex civil trials and white-collar defense, and has been recognized in Forbes, The Best Lawyers in America, and other legal rankings.
- Richardson High School
- Costa grew up in Richardson, Texas, after being born in Baltimore, MD.
- Birth place: Baltimore, MD
Published courtroom rules
Shared court rules
Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure — oral argument
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Ordinary United States Courts of Appeals only. December 1, 2024 compilation; dated source baseline, not certification of all later amendments or circuit-specific local rules. Excludes CAAF and administrative boards. Shared baseline only, not a judge-specific preference or complete local rules inventory. Apply source exceptions, case-type limits, later amendments and case orders.
Official source ↗ · Collected 2026-10-27Sources
Identity source checked June 30, 2026.
Biography sources checked October 11, 2026.
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit current judicial profile
Identity source · HTML · CourtListener / Free Law Project · effective June 2, 2014 · Source checked August 2, 2026
View Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit current judicial profile ↗