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Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count 8/22/2012

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August 22, 2012

By Joshua Meyer-Gutbrod

For a District by District break down, see: Federal Court Vacancy Warning System
FederalVacancy Blue.png


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%
Supreme Court 0 percent or no vacancies
Appeals Courts 7.8 percent or 14 vacancies
District Courts 9 percent 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.

ForwardBackVwlmap8-22-2012.png

News

Yet again, with elections in full swing, the American public finds itself entering another lame duck session of government. There was no action on any of the existing vacancies at the federal level. In addition, there were no new vacancies created this week. However, there are 10 scheduled vacancies between now and the end of the year, including 1 appellate vacancy. If unchecked, these vacancies will raise the vacancy warning level for the district courts from Blue to Yellow with 10.3 percent of the posts being vacant. The overall vacancy warning level and the appellate warning level will remain unchanged.

More data

With the lack of activity we have decided to add 6 more months of data under the Obama administration. More to come and refreshed graphs once the 111th congress is calculated fully.

Date Change from last week Appellate and Supreme Court Vacancies ( percent of Posts) District Court Vacancies ( percent of Posts) Total Vacancies ( percent of Posts)
6/2/2010 1 appellate vacancy and 2 district vacancies 18 (10.1%) 81 (11.9%) 99 (11.4 percent )
6/9/2010 3 district confirmations and 1 district vacancy 18 (10.1%) 79 (11.6%) 97 (11.2 percent )
6/16/2010 3 District confirmations, 1 appellate vacancy and 1 district vacancy 19 (10.6%) 77 (11.3%) 96 (11.1 percent )
6/23/2010 3 district confirmations 19 (10.6%) 74 (10.9%) 93 (10.7 percent )
6/30/2010 1 District confirmation and 1 SCOTUS vacancy 19 (10.6%) 73 (10.9%) 93 (10.7 percent ) (1 SCOTUS)
7/7/2010 2 Circuit vacancies and 1 district vacancy 21 (11.7%) 74 (10.9%) 96 (11.1 percent ) (1 SCOTUS)
7/14/2010 1 District confirmation 21 (11.7%) 73 (10.7%) 95 (10.9 percent ) (1 SCOTUS)
7/21/2010 No Change 21 (11.7%) 73 (10.7%) 95 (10.9 percent ) (1 SCOTUS)
7/28/2010 No Change 21 (11.7%) 73 (11.5%) 95 (11.5 percent ) (1 SCOTUS)
8/4/2010 5 district vacancies 21 (11.7%) 78 (11.5%) 100 (11.5 percent ) (1 SCOTUS)
8/11/2010 1 Supreme Court confirmation, 1 appellate confirmation ,3 district confirmations 20 (11.2%) 75 (11%) 95 (10.9 percent )
8/18/2010 2 district vacancies 20 (11.2%) 77 (11.3%) 97 (11.2 percent )
8/25/2010 No Change 20 (11.2%) 77 (11.3%) 97 (11.2 percent )
9/1/2010 1 Circuit vacancy and 1 district vacancy 21 (11.7%) 78 (11.5%) 99 (11.4 percent )
9/8/2010 1 District vacancy 21 (11.7%) 79 (11.6%) 100 (11.5 percent )
9/15/2010 1 appellate confirmation 20 (11.2%) 79 (11.6%) 99 (11.4 percent )
9/22/2010 No Change 20 (11.2%) 79 (11.6%) 99 (11.4 percent )
9/29/2010 No Change 20 (11.2%) 79 (11.6%) 99 (11.4 percent )
10/6/2010 1 Circuit vacancy 21 (11.7%) 79 (11.6%) 100 (11.5 percent )
10/13/2010 No Activity 21 (11.7%) 79 (11.6%) 100 (11.5 percent )
10/20/2010 No Activity 21 (11.7%) 79 (11.6%) 100 (11.5 percent )
10/27/2010 No Activity 21 (11.7%) 79 (11.6%) 100 (11.5 percent )
11/3/2010 1 District vacancy 21 (11.7%) 80 (11.8%) 101 (11.6 percent )
11/10/2010 1 District vacancy 21 (11.7%) 81 (11.9%) 102 (11.8 percent )
11/17/2010 No Change 21 (11.7%) 81 (11.9%) 102 (11.8 percent )
11/24/2010 1 Circuit vacancy 22 (12.3%) 81 (11.9%) 103 (11.9 percent )
12/1/2010 1 District vacancy 22 (12.3%) 82 (12.1%) 104 (12 percent )
12/8/2010 No Change 22 (12.3%) 82 (12.1%) 104 (12 percent )
12/15/2010 1 district vacancy 22 (12.3%) 83 (12.2%) 105 (12.1 percent )
12/22/2010 2 Circuit confirmations, 12 District confirmations, 20 (11.2%) 71 (10.4%) 91 (10.5 percent )
12/29/2010 3 Circuit confirmations, 2 district confirmations, 1 district vacancy 17 (9.5%) 70 (10.3%) 87 (10 percent )
12/31/2010 3 District vacancies 17 (9.5%) 73 (10.7%) 90 (10.4 percent )

See also

Footnotes