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Ballotpedia Analysis: President-Elect Trump to Inherit 108 Life-Term Federal Judicial Vacancies
Contact: Kristen Vonasek, Director of Communications
Tel: (608) 255-0688
E-mail: Media@ballotpedia.org
When Trump takes office, 12.41 percent of all life-term judicial positions will be vacant, and by the end of his first term, Trump could see vacancies in up to 50.3 percent of these positions.
Middleton, Wis. - January 17, 2017: Ballotpedia released an in-depth report comparing the vacancies that President-elect Trump will inherit at the start of his first presidential term with those of his five immediate predecessors.
The analysis shows that Trump will inherit 108 vacancies, representing roughly one in every eight life-term federal judicial positions (12.41%). Not since President Bill Clinton has a president had the opportunity to fill so many vacancies in the federal courts at the start of his first term. After breaking down the data by circuit court and district court to compare percentages, the report finds that Trump has the third-highest percentage of circuit court vacancies and the second-highest percentage of district court vacancies among recent incoming administrations.
In this analysis, Ballotpedia also sought to find out what possible vacancies might occur throughout Trump's first term by examining the number of current judges who are eligible for senior status on their respective courts. Overall, in addition to the 108 current Article III vacancies that Trump will inherit, another 172 judges will be eligible to take senior status by January 20, 2017, and an additional 47 judges will be eligible in the 2017 calendar year. Counting existing vacancies and judges who could possibly take senior status, there could be as many as 438 vacancies by December 31, 2020, representing more than half (50.3%) of the 870 life-term Article III judicial positions under current law. The analysis shows that the majority of both circuit and district judges who could take senior status during the next four years were GOP nominees.
Ballotpedia monitors these and other federal judicial positions through the Current federal judicial vacancies and monthly federal vacancy count. Ballotpedia also keeps track of federal magistrate judges and federal bankruptcy judges on a recurring basis.
About Ballotpedia
Ballotpedia is the online encyclopedia of American politics and elections. Its goal is to preserve and expand knowledge about politics by providing exceptionally high-quality, accurate, and objective information about local, state, and federal politics and policies. Its content includes neutral, accurate, and verifiable information on government officials and the offices they hold, political issues and public policy, elections, candidates, and the influencers of politics. Headquartered in Middleton, Wisconsin, Ballotpedia was founded in 2006. It has grown to include over 275,000 professionally authored encyclopedic articles that have garnered over 1 billion page views.
If you’d like more information, or to schedule an interview, please contact Ballotpedia's Director of Communications at media@Ballotpedia.org.
