By Joshua Meyer-Gutbrod
- 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 were no changes during the past week. That leaves the final tally at 75 vacancies or approximately 8.6 percent 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% |
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.
News
With the presidential election and congressional elections in full swing, both the president and congress were inactive during the past week in addressing the vacancies on the United States Federal Judiciary. Luckily, the vacancy count remains unaltered as there were no new vacancies to report as well. In lieu of reporting current events, the staff on the Federal Courts project has attempted to extend the vacancy count back in time to improve our own data and your awareness about the growth of the number of vacancies on the Federal courts.
Data
| Date
|
Change from last week
|
Appellate and Supreme Court Vacancies ( percent of Posts)
|
District Court Vacancies ( percent of Posts)
|
Total Vacancies ( percent of Posts)
|
| 1/1/2011
|
|
17 (9.5%)
|
73 (10.7%)
|
90 (10.4 percent )
|
| 1/5/2011
|
3 district vacancies
|
17 (9.5%)
|
76 (11.2%)
|
93 (10.7 percent )
|
| 1/12/2011
|
2 district vacancies
|
17 (9.5%)
|
78 (11.5%)
|
95 (10.9 percent )
|
| 1/19/2011
|
No Change
|
17 {9.5%)
|
78 (11.5%)
|
95 (10.9 percent )
|
| 1/26/2011
|
No Change
|
17 (9.5%)
|
78 (11.5%)
|
95 (10.9 percent )
|
| 2/2/2011
|
4 District vacancy and 1 appellate vacancy
|
18 (10.1%)
|
82 (12.1%)
|
100 (11.5 percent )
|
| 2/9/2011
|
3 district confirmations
|
18 (10.1%)
|
79 (11.6%)
|
97 (11.2 percent )
|
| 2/16/2011
|
1 District confirmation, 1 appellate confirmation
|
17 (9.5%)
|
78 (11.5%)
|
95 (10.9 percent )
|
| 2/23/2011
|
No Change
|
17 (9.5%)
|
78 (11.5%)
|
95 (10.9 percent )
|
| 3/2/2011
|
2 district confirmations, 1 district vacancy and 1 appellate vacancy
|
18 (10.1%)
|
77 (11.3%)
|
95 (10.9 percent )
|
| 3/9/2011
|
3 district confirmations
|
18 (10.1%)
|
74 (10.9%)
|
92 (10.6 percent )
|
| 3/16/2011
|
2 district confirmations and 1 district vacancy
|
18 (10.1%)
|
73 (10.7%)
|
91 (10.5 percent )
|
| 3/23/2011
|
1 District confirmation
|
18 (10.1%)
|
72 (10.6%)
|
90 (10.4 percent )
|
| 3/30/2011
|
1 district confirmation and 1 District vacancy
|
18 (10.1%)
|
72 (10.6%)
|
90 (10.4 percent )
|
| 4/6/2011
|
1 appellate confirmation and 2 district vacancies
|
17 (9.5%)
|
74 (10.9%)
|
91 (10.5 percent )
|
| 4/13/2011
|
+2 and -2 = 0 change
|
17 (9.5%)
|
74 (10.9%)
|
91 (10.5 percent )
|
Updated graphs
The following graphs highlight the changes in the vacancy levels throughout the second half of President Barack Obama's term and the 112th Congress.
Weekly vacancy changes
Weekly net vacancy changes
Weekly vacancy percentage by court level
Weekly total vacancy percentage
See also
