Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count 5/30/2012
May 30, 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. There was no activity this week, leaving the final tally at 70 vacancies or approximately 8.1% of the total Article III posts currently unfilled. In addition, we cover the creation of one new post this past year and the expiration of one temporary post. 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 | 7.3% or 13 vacancies |
| District Courts | 8.4% or 57 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.
Weekly map
The new weekly map feature will be updated every week and posted here and on the vacancy warning level analysis page.
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New activity
There was no new activity for the federal courts this week. No new appointments were submitted and no confirmations were considered by the senate. We would like to take this week to highlight the current status of the federal judiciaries vacancy count.
Overview
The federal courts currently have 70 total vacancies with 13 at the appellate level and 57 at the district level excluding territorial courts. This number marks the lowest number of vacancies for the federal courts since this project began in April 2011. The following graphs have been updated to reflect the changes over time.
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Red alert states
Currently the only district that has a red vacancy warning level is the Western District of Wisconsin. The court has two posts and one vacancy. With 50% of the posts vacant, the court is in desperate need of an additional Article III judge. However, Obama's appointee, Louis Butler was repeatedly blocked by various Senate members. The nomination was ultimately returned on December 17, 2011 and no new nomination has been submitted.
See also
Footnotes
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