It’s the 12 Days of Ballotpedia! Your gift powers the trusted, unbiased information voters need heading into 2026. Donate now!
Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count 2/1/2012
February 1, 2012
- For a District by District break down, see: Federal Court Vacancy Warning System
The current vacancy warning level for the U.S. District courts is set at Blue. This past week, a federal judge for the Northern District of Mississippi passed away, creating a new vacancy. The final tally leaves 82 vacancies or approximately 9.4% of the total Article III posts currently unfilled. The vacancy information for the various court levels is as follows:
| Key: | |
| (Percentage of seats vacant.) | |
| 0% | 1%-9% |
| 10%-24% | 25%-40% |
| More than 40% | |
| Supreme Court | 0% or no vacancies |
| Appeals Courts | 8.9% or 16 vacancies |
| District Courts | 9.7% or 66 vacancies |
There are currently 9 Supreme Court posts, 179 appellate court posts and 680 district court posts for a total of 868 Article III judges. This count includes four temporary posts, one each in the Northern District of Alabama, District of Arizona, Southern District of Florida and the Central District of California. This also includes a shared post between the two Missouri districts and counts it as two posts with separate vacancies.
Monthly map
 |
New confirmations
There were no new confirmations during the past week.
New vacancies
Northern District of Mississippi
On January 24, 2011 Allen Pepper passed away after serving the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi for 12 years.[1] Appointed by Bill Clinton, Pepper graduated from the University of Mississippi with his bachelor's degree in 1963 and later graduated from the University of Mississippi Law School with his Juris Doctor degree in 1968. Prior to serving on the bench, Pepper was a private practice attorney for his entire career.[2] The vacancy raises the vacancy warning level from Green to Orange, creating the only vacancy on the court of three.
New nominations
There were no new nominations in the past week.
Returned to president
A number of candidates were returned to the President at the end of 2011. We will provide a recap of returned candidates here:
- Stephen Six, Tenth Circuit, ABA: Unanimously Well Qualified, Returned: December 17, 2011
- Caitlin Halligan, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, ABA: Unanimously Well Qualified, Returned: December 17, 2011
- Arvo Mikkanen, Northern District of Oklahoma, ABA: Unanimously Qualified, Returned: December 17, 2011
- Linda T. Walker, Northern District of Georgia, ABA: Substantial Majority Well Qualified, Minority Qualified, Returned:December 17, 2011
- Natasha P. Silas, Northern District of Georgia, ABA: Substantial Majority Qualified, Minority Not Qualified, Returned: December 17, 2011
- Michael C. Green, Western District of New York, ABA: Substantial Majority Qualified, Minority Not Qualified, Returned: December 17, 2011
- Louis Butler, Western District of Wisconsin, ABA: Unanimously Well Qualified, Returned: December 17, 2011
The president will need to decide if he wishes to reappoint any of these candidates or appoint new candidates to the posts.[3]
See also
Footnotes
| |||||
