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Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count 7/11/2012
July 11, 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 and one new vacancy this week. Including our retraction from last week, that leaves the final tally at 74 vacancies or approximately 8.5% 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 | 6.7% or 12 vacancies |
| District Courts | 9.1% or 62 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
Western District of Tennessee
On July 10, 2012 the United States Senate confirmed John T. Fowlkes to an Article III post for the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee with a vote of 94-2.[1][2] Fowlkes was originally appointed on December 16, 2011, by Barack Obama to the seat vacated by Bernice Donald. At the time of appointment, Fowlkes was a judge for the Thirtieth Judicial District, Tennessee. 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 five, lowering the vacancy warning level from Yellow to Green.
Confirmation retraction
Middle District of Florida
There was an error posted on last weeks vacancy count. Due to an error on the United States Periodic Press Gallery we reported that Brian J. Davis was confirmed with an en bloc group of nominations. This was not the case and the Press Gallery removed his name shortly after. Davis' nomination still awaits confirmation and in the mean time, he will continue to run in the election for his post on the Florida 4th Circuit Court. The mistake returns the vacancy warning level of the district to Yellow.
New vacancy
District of Nevada
On July 9, 2012 Kent Dawson assumed senior status for the United States District Court for the District of Nevada after serving on the court for 12 years.[4] He joined the court in 2000 after an appointment from Bill Clinton. Before being nominated to the Federal bench in 2000, Dawson served as Justice of the peace for the Henderson Henderson Justice Court based in Clark County from 1995 to 2000. A native of Utah, Dawson graduated from Weber State College with his bachelor's degree in 1969 and later graduated from the University of Utah School of Law with his Juris Doctorate degree in 1971.[5] Dawson's transition creates the second vacancy on the court of seven, raising the vacancy warning level from Yellow to Orange.
New nominations
There were no new nominations during the past week.
See also
Footnotes
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