Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count 4/17/2013
April 17, 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 82 vacancies or approximately 9.4% 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 | 9.7% or 66 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.
 |
New confirmations
Central District of California
On April 11, 2013, the United States Senate confirmed Beverly Reid O'Connell to an Article III post for the United States District Court for the Central District of California with vote of 92-0.[1][2] O’Connell was originally nominated on November 15, 2012, by Barack Obama to the seat vacated by Valerie Baker Fairbank. At the time of nomination, O’Connell was a judge for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, California. She was rated Unanimously Well Qualified by the American Bar Association. She had a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on December 12, 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 twenty-eight, lowering the vacancy warning level from Blue to Green.
New vacancies
There were no new vacancies this past week.
New nominations
Southern District of New York
On April 15, 2013, President Barack Obama nominated Vernon Broderick to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to fill the vacancy left by Deborah Batts.[4] Obama commented on the nominations, stating:
| “ | I am proud to nominate this outstanding candidate to serve on the United States District Court bench. Vernon Broderick has a long and distinguished record of service, and I am confident he will serve on the federal bench with distinction.[5][6] | ” |
Broderick is currently a partner at the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in New York City. He attended Yale University, graduating with a B.A. with honors in 1985. He went on to attend Harvard Law School, earning his J.D. with honors in 1988.[5] If confirmed, the nomination would fill one of five vacancies on the court of twenty-eight.
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ 113th Congress Confirmations
- ↑ United States Periodic Press Gallery
- ↑ 113th Congress Nomination Materials
- ↑ "Presidential Nominations Sent to the Senate" 4/15/2013
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "President Obama Nominates Vernon S. Broderick to Serve on the United States District Court" 4/15/2013
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| |||||
