[1] In 2010, he served as the lead investigator for the American Bar Association committee that reviewed the qualifications of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.

[3] In April 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States appointed him to serve as special master in an interstate water-rights dispute, Kansas v. Nebraska and Colorado.

[11] His nomination needed only confirmation by the full Senate, but the process was stalled by GOP filibusters for a series of tactical reasons, such as to block the consideration of another of President Obama's judicial appointments, Robert E.

[16] In August 2017, Kayatta wrote for the divided en banc circuit when it rejected a lawsuit seeking to give Puerto Ricans the right to vote, over the dissents of Judges Lipez, Juan R. Torruella, and O. Rogeriee Thompson.

[17][18] In April 2020, Kayatta wrote for the unanimous panel when it found that the Board of Immigration Appeals had erred in denying asylum in the United States to a domestic abuse survivor without considering her particular allegations.

[19][20] In July 2020, Kayatta was part of an appellate court decision that tossed out the death sentence and overturned three of the firearm convictions of Boston Marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.