--- title: "Gregg Jeffrey Costa | KnowJudges" canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/gregg-jeffrey-costa-731" page_type: "judge_profile" updated: "2026-10-09" --- # Gregg Jeffrey Costa U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · U.S. Circuit Judge ## Profile - Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit - State: National federal courts - Role: U.S. Circuit Judge - Service status: active - Last verified: 2026-06-30 ## 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 ## Sources - [Official profile](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/731/gregg-jeffrey-costa/) - [Official roster](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/731/gregg-jeffrey-costa/) - [Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit current judicial profile](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/731/gregg-jeffrey-costa/) - [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/731/gregg-jeffrey-costa/) - [Costa, Gregg Jeffrey | Federal Judicial Center](https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/costa-gregg-jeffrey) - [Gregg Costa](https://www.txs.uscourts.gov/page/gregg-costa) - [Wikidata: Gregg Costa](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5606518) ## JSON-LD ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/gregg-jeffrey-costa-731", "url": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/gregg-jeffrey-costa-731", "name": "Gregg Jeffrey Costa | KnowJudges", "description": "Gregg Jeffrey Costa, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. 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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](https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/2025-02/federal-rules-of-appellate-procedure-dec-1-2024_0.pdf). Collected 2026-10-27.