Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count 6/29/2011
June 29, 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. 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 57 pending appointments in the Senate leaving 35% of the vacant posts without an appointment. So far this year there have been 27 confirmations.
New confirmations
There have been no new confirmations this past week.
New vacancies
There have been no new vacancies to open up this past week.
New nominations
District of Arizona
On June 23, 2011 President Obama appointed Jennifer Zipps to the United States District Court for the District of Arizona to the seat vacated by John Roll upon his death.[1] Zipps has been a magistrate judge for the District of Arizona since 2005.[2]
On the same day President Obama also appointed Rosemary Marquez to the District of Arizona bench to the seat vacated by Frank Zapata.[1] Marquez has served as a private practice attorney in Tucson, Arizona, since 2000.[2]
Obama said of the two appointments, “I am honored to put forward such highly qualified candidates for the federal bench. Judge Jennifer Guerin Zipps and Rosemary Márquez will be distinguished public servants and valuable additions to the United States District Court.”[2] The appointments, if confirmed, will fill the twp of three vacancies in a district struggling with a heavy caseload this year.
See also
Footnotes
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