Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count 7/30/2014
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July 30, 2014
This week's Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count includes nominations, confirmations and vacancies from July 23, 2014, to July 29, 2014. Nominations, confirmations and vacancies occurring on July 30th will be reflected in the August 6th report.
Pamela Harris received confirmation this week by the slimmest of margins. The Senate voted 50-43 to place Harris on the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.
The vacancy warning level remained at blue this week after no new vacancies and one new confirmation. The vacancy percentage fell to 6.4%. There were no new nominations this week, which allowed the total number of nominees waiting for confirmation to fall to 23. The number of vacancies of Article III judges fell to 56 out of 874. A breakdown of the vacancies on each level can be found in the table below. For a more detailed look at the vacancies on the federal courts, see our Federal Court Vacancy Warning System.
Vacancies by court
| Court | # of Seats | Vacancies |
| Supreme Court | 9 | 0% or no vacancies |
| Appeals Courts | 179 | 4.5% or 8 vacancies |
| District Courts | 677 | 6.9% or 47 vacancies |
| International Trade | 9 | 11.1% or 1 vacancy |
| All Judges | 874 | 6.4% or 56 vacancies |
New vacancies
There were no new vacancies this week.
New confirmations
Fourth Circuit
Pamela Harris
| The United States Senate confirmed Pamela Harris to the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit on July 28, 2014, on a vote of 50-43.[1] Harris leaves her position as a visiting professor at the Georgetown University Law Center after two years. Her experience is diverse, including time working for the United States Department of Justice, various law firms and teaching for the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Harris clerked for Harry Edwards of the District of Columbia Circuit and Associate Justice John Paul Stevens of the Supreme Court of the United States. Her education includes a B.A., summa cum laude, and a J.D. from Yale University. The confirmation came 81 days after Harris was nominated and filled the vacancy created by Andre Davis, who took senior status in February of 2014. The confirmation removes the only vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. The vacancy warning level fell from blue to green. | 
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New nominations
There were no new nominations this week.
Weekly map
The weekly map is updated every week and posted here and on the Federal Court Vacancy Warning System analysis page.
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See also
Footnotes
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