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Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count 12/5/2012
December 5, 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 one new confirmation this past week. That leaves the final tally at 80 vacancies or approximately 9.2% of the total Article III posts currently 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 | 8.4% or 15 vacancies |
| District Courts | 9.6% or 65 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 confirmations
District of Maryland
On December 3, 2012 the United States Senate confirmed Paul Grimm to an Article III post for the United States District Court for the District of Maryland with a vote of 92-1.[1][2] Grimm was originally appointed on February 16, 2012, by Barack Obama to the seat vacated by Benson Everett Legg. At the time of appointment, Grimm was the Chief magistrate judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. He was first appointed to this court on February 5, 1997 and has served as the Chief Magistrate Judge since May of 2006.[3] He was rated Unanimously Well Qualified by the American Bar Association. He had a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 9, 2012 and you can find his Committee Questionnaire available here (dead link) and his Questions for the Record available here.[4] The confirmation fills the only vacancy on the court of ten, lowering the vacancy warning level from Blue to Green.
New vacancies
There were no new vacancies this past week. Three district court judges are slated to assume senior status and generate vacancies in December. In addition one appellate judge and five district judges are slated to assume senior status in January, for a total of 6 new vacancies.
New nominations
There were no new nominations submitted this past week.
See also
Footnotes
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