Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count 2/20/2013
February 20, 2013
- For a District by District break down, see: Federal Court Vacancy Warning System
The vacancy warning level for the U.S. Federal courts is currently set at Yellow. There was one new confirmation this past week, leaving the final tally at 87 vacancies or approximately 10 percent 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 percent or no vacancies |
| Appeals Courts | 10.1 percent or 18 vacancies |
| District Courts | 10.1 percent or 69 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 two shared post between the two Missouri districts and the two Kentucky districts, which count 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
First Circuit
On February 13, 2013, the United States Senate confirmed William Kayatta to an Article III post for the United States Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit with vote of 88-12.[1][2] Kayatta was originally appointed on January 23, 2012, by Barack Obama to the seat vacated by Kermit Lipez. At the time of appointment, Kayatta was a partner in the law firm Pierce Atwood LLP, located in Portland, Maine. He was rated Unanimously Well Qualified by the American Bar Association. He had a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 14, 2012, and you can find his Committee Questionnaire available here and his Questions for the Record available here.[3] The confirmation fills the only vacancy on the court of six, lowering the vacancy warning level from Yellow to Green.
New vacancies
There were no new vacancies over the past week.
New nominations
There were no new nominations made this past week.
See also
Footnotes
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