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Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count 6/15/2011
June 15, 2011
- For a District by District break down, see: Federal Court Vacancy Warning System
The current vacancy warning level for the U.S. Federal courts is set at Blue and is down from last week due to the confirmation of two new judges to the District of New Jersey. Approximately 9.9 percent of the total Article III posts are currently left 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 percent or no vacancies |
| Appeals Courts | 9 percent or 16 vacancies |
| District Courts | 10.2 percent or 70 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. There are currently 55 pending appointments in the Senate leaving 37 percent of the vacant posts without an appointment. So far this year there have been 26 confirmations.
New confirmations
There were two key confirmations this past week in the same district.
District of New Jersey
Claire Cecchi and Esther Salas were both confirmed to the District of New Jersey on June 14, 2011 filling the two remaining open seats on the court and raising the vacancy warning level from Yellow to Green.
Salas was first appointed by Barack Obama on December 1, 2010 to a seat vacated by Katharine Hayden on May 30, 2010. Salas's nomination was returned at the end of the 111th congress and resubmitted by the president shortly after.
Cecchi was first appointed by Barack Obama on December 1, 2010 to a seat vacated by Joseph Greenaway upon his transition to the Third Circuit on February 9, 2010. Cecchi's nomination was returned at the end of the 111th congress and resubmitted by the president shortly after.
See also
Footnotes
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