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Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count 4/10/2013
April 10, 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 83 vacancies or approximately 9.6% 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 | 8.9% or 16 vacancies |
| District Courts | 9.9% or 67 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
Third Circuit
On April 9, 2013, the United States Senate confirmed Patty Shwartz to an Article III post for the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit with vote of 64-34.[1][2] Shwartz was originally nominated on October 5, 2011, by Barack Obama to the seat vacated by Maryanne Barry upon her retirement. At the time of nomination, Shwartz was a magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. She was rated Unanimously Well Qualified by the American Bar Association. She had a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 15, 2012 and you can find her Committee Questionnaire available here, her Questions for the Record available here and her Renomination Questions for the Record available here.[3] The confirmation fills the only vacancy on the court of fourteen, lowering the vacancy warning level from Blue to Green.
New vacancies
There were no new vacancies this past week.
New nominations
There were no new nominations made this past week.
See also
Footnotes
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