Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count 7/20/2011
July 20, 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 Yellow and is unchanged from last week due to the offsetting death of a federal district court judge and the confirmation of additional judge. Approximately 10.1% 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 | 9.5% or 17 vacancies |
| District Courts | 10.4% or 71 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 36% of the vacant posts without an appointment. So far this year there have been 29 confirmations.
New confirmations
Southern District of New York
On July 18, 2011 J. Paul Oetken was confirmed to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by a Senate vote of 80 to 13.[1] Oetken was originally nominated on January 26, 2011 and is the first 2011 Article III appointee from Barack Obama to be confirmed by the senate. Oetken is also the only federal judge to be openly gay at the time of his confirmation. New York Senator Charles Schumer comments on the confirmation, stating “When there are so many qualified gay and lesbian people and none of them get on the bench, you scratch your head and wonder why. But the old barriers that existed in society are crumbling. That’s what this will say.”[2] The confirmation will present some relief to a particularly struggling district, filling one of the eight current vacancies and lowering the vacancy warning level from Orange to Yellow for the first time in six months.
New vacancies
Middle District of Louisiana
A vacancy opened up for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana with the sudden death of chief judge Ralph Tyson.[3] Tyson has served on the bench for 13 years and has served as the chief judge since 2005. He passed away on July 18, 2011 at the age of 62. His death raises the vacancy warning level of the small court from Green to Orange creating the only vacancy on the court.
New nominations
No new nominations this week.
Notable news
Recent deaths
The federal judiciary lost a long-serving senior judge this past week with the death of senior judge Ira DeMent on July 16, 2011. DeMent served on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama from 1992-2002 then served on senior status until his death this past week at the age of 79. DeMent had a career serving in the U.S. Army and Air Force, as a U.S. attorney, and as the special counsel for three different Alabama governors.[4]
See also
Footnotes
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