Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count 6/22/2011
June 22, 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 unchanged from last week due to one additional confirmation for the District of Oregon and one vacancy in the Northern District of Florida. Approximately 9.9% 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% or no vacancies |
| Appeals Courts | 9% or 16 vacancies |
| District Courts | 10.2% 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% of the vacant posts without an appointment. So far this year there have been 27 confirmations.
New confirmations
District of Oregon
Michael H. Simon was confirmed by the senate on June 21, 2011 to the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.[1] He fills the seat vacated by Ancer Haggerty when he assumed senior status on August 26, 2009. The confirmation fills the only remaining vacancy on the court, lowering the vacancy warning level to Green.
New vacancies
Northern District of Florida
Today, June 22, 2011, Stephan Mickle will transition to senior status after 13 years of serving on the court. Mickle joined the court on 5/22/1998 after an appointment from Bill Clinton and has served as chief judge of the court since 2009. Currently no appointment has been made to fill the vacant seat.[2] The vacancy raises the vacancy warning level from Green to Yellow.
See also
Footnotes
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