Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count 3/6/2013
March 6, 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 Blue. There was one new confirmation this past week, leaving the final tally at 85 vacancies or approximately 9.8% 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 | 9.5% or 17 vacancies |
| District Courts | 10% or 68 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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Cloture vote
On March 6, 2013 the United States Senate held a cloture vote on the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The vote failed to achieve the required 60 votes with a vote of 51-41. The nomination will most likely be returned to the President shortly.[1]
New confirmations
Southern District of New York
On March 4, 2013, the United States Senate confirmed Katherine Failla to an Article III post for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York with vote of 91-0.[2][3] Failla was originally appointed on June 26, 2012, by Barack Obama to the seat vacated by Denise Cote. At the time of appointment, Failla was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York. She was rated Majority Well Qualified, Minority Qualified by the American Bar Association. She had a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 19, 2012, and you can find her Committee Questionnaire available here, her Questions for the Record available here (dead link) and her Renomination Questions for the Record available here.[4] The confirmation fills one of six vacancies on the court of twenty-eight, leaving the vacancy warning level unchanged at Yellow.
Eastern District of New York
On March 4, 2013, the United States Senate confirmed Pamela Ki Mai Chen to an Article III post for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York with voice vote.[2][5] Chen was originally appointed on August 2, 2012, by Barack Obama to the seat vacated by Raymond Dearie. At the time of appointment, Chen was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York. She was rated Unanimously Qualified by the American Bar Association. She had a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 19, 2012 and you can find her Committee Questionnaire available here, her Questions for the Record available here (dead link) and her Renomination Questions for the Record available here.[4] The confirmation fills only vacancy on the court of fifteen, lower the vacancy warning level from Blue to Green.
New vacancies
Southern District of Texas
On March 2, 2013, Kenneth Hoyt assumed senior status for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas after serving on the court for nearly 15 years.[6] Hoyt first joined the court on April 1, 1988, after an appointment from Ronald Reagan. At the time of his appointment he was a Justice of the Texas First District Court of Appeals. Born in Saint Augustine, Texas, Hoyt graduated from the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas with his bachelor's degree in 1969 and received a Juris Doctor degree from Texas Southern University's Thurgood Marshall School of Law in 1972.[7] The transition to senior status creates the third vacancy on the court of nineteen, leaving the vacancy warning level unchanged at Yellow.
New nominations
There were no new nominations this past week.
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ United States Periodic Press Gallery
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Senate Judiciary Committee, "113th Congress Confirmations, accessed April 24, 2014 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "confirmations" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ United States Periodic Press Gallery
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Senate Judiciary Committee, "112th Congress Nomination Materials," accessed April 24, 2014
- ↑ United States Periodic Press Gallery
- ↑ U.S. Courts Current Vacancies
- ↑ Judge Hoyt's Biography from the Federal Judicial Center.
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