[7] Higginson received his commission on November 2, 2011,[4] 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.

[8] 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.

[11][12] Judge Higginson agreed with the majority opinion, but, in light of a Supreme Court determination, would remand the case.

[13] Higginson is married to Collette Creppell, the Vice President of Campus Planning and Design at Chapman University.