Circuit split arises when two or more circuits in the U.S. Court of Appeals reach different decisions on the same legal issue. This disagreement means federal law is applied differently in different parts of the country, so that similarly situated litigants receive different treatment across jurisdictions. The existence of circuit split is one of the reasons for the U.S. Supreme Court to grant certiorari.
[Last updated in July of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]