Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count 7/25/2012
July 25, 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 this 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 | 7.3% or 13 vacancies |
| District Courts | 9% or 61 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
District of New Jersey
On July 23, 2012 the United States Senate confirmed Michael Shipp to an Article III post for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey with a vote of 91-1.[1][2] Shipp was originally appointed on January 23, 2012 , by Barack Obama to the seat vacated by Mary Cooper. At the time of appointment, Shipp was a federal magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. He was rated Substantial Majority Qualified, Minority Not 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 remaining vacancy on the court of seventeen, 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 this past week.
See also
Footnotes
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