Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count 7/9/2014

Key: (Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.) 0% 0%-10% 10%-25% 25%-40% More than 40%

July 9, 2014

By Courtney Collins

This week's Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count includes nominations, confirmations and vacancies from July 2, 2014, to July 8, 2014. Nominations, confirmations and vacancies occurring on July 9th will be reflected in the July 16th report.

This week saw the passing of 41-year veteran of the bench, James Turk and the confirmation of Cheryl Ann Krause, who fills a vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.

The vacancy warning level remained at blue this week after no new vacancies and one new confirmation. The vacancy percentage fell to 6.9%. There were no new nominations this week, which allowed the total number of nominees waiting for confirmation to fall to 29. The number of vacancies of Article III judges fell to 60 out of 865. 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	5.6% or 10 vacancies
District Courts	677	7.4% or 50 vacancies
All Judges	865	6.9% or 60 vacancies

New vacancies

There were no new vacancies this week.

New confirmations

Third Circuit

Cheryl Ann Krause

The United States Senate confirmed Cheryl Ann Krause on July 7, 2014, on a vote of 93-0. Krause leaves her position as a partner at the law firm of Dechert LLP to join the federal judiciary. She has 13 years of experience working at various law firms, along with 5 years as an Assistant United States Attorney. Her various clerkships include working with Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy of the Supreme Court and Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit. Krause's education includes a B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. with highest honors from Stanford Law School. Her confirmation comes 140 days after her nomination and fills the vacancy created by Dolores Sloviter, who took senior status in June of 2013. The confirmation removes one of the two vacancies on the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. The vacancy warning level fell from yellow to blue.

New nominations

There were no new nominations this week.

Passings

Western District of Virginia

James Turk

Judge James Turk passed away on July 6, 2014, after 41 years on the bench; he was 91. Turk joined the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in 1972, after a nomination by President Richard Nixon. United States Attorney Tim Heaphy praised Judge Turk's time on the bench: “ He brought a level of civility and common courtesy to the bench — qualities that endeared him to the lawyers in this office and all those who practiced before him. His tradition of shaking hands with defendants after their cases concluded was a perfect manifestation of his essential humanity and his ability to recognize the good in all people, regardless of circumstance. For that quality, above all others, Judge Turk will always be remembered. ” Chief Judge Glen Conrad remembered a time when he served as law clerk to Judge Turk, where they traveled to pick up a defendant that made a threat to the president. During the car ride back, Judge Turk deduced that the defendant acted in a moment of anger, accepting his guilty plea the next day and sentencing him to probation. Turk took up a donation pool to buy a bus ticket home for the defendant. Chief Judge Conrad ended by saying: “ He loved the law, but most of all he loved people. And I think that his love and his concern for his fellow man will be what those who know him will remember above all else. ” Turk's impressive career also involved 13 years as a Virginia State Senator from 1959 to 1972. He was a graduate of Roanoke College and Washington and Lee University School of Law.

Weekly map

The weekly map is updated every week and posted here and on the Federal Court Vacancy Warning System analysis page.

See also

• United States federal courts

Footnotes