Ballotpedia covers vacancies in 52 state supreme courts in the 50 states that have at least one court of last resort. Only Texas and Oklahoma have two courts of last resort, one for civil appeals and one for criminal appeals.
A vacancy occurs when a justice steps down from their seat before their term is regularly scheduled to end. A vacancy may occur due to a retirement, death, elevation to a federal court, ascension to the chief justice position, or any other reason that may cause them to not complete the remainder of their regularly scheduled term. After the announcement that a justice will step down, partial-term selection methods begin to fill the remainder of their term. To learn more about how Ballotpedia defines a vacancy, click here.
Ballotpedia counts a seat as vacant if the outgoing officeholder leaves office before their official term-end date or the incoming officeholder takes office after their official term-start date. If an officeholder takes or leaves office according to their official term-start or -end date, Ballotpedia does not count that as a vacant seat.
2024 vacancies
In 2024, there were 20 vacancies across 15 states. Of the 20 vacancies, 18 occurred in states where the replacement justice was appointed, not elected. There also were two vacancies where the replacement justice was elected instead of appointed. Of the 20 vacancies, 17 vacancies were caused by a justice retiring. Three vacancies were caused by a justice ascending to the chief justice of the court.
The following table contains a comprehensive list of the vacancies that Ballotpedia covered in 2024. For a list of states where a regularly scheduled election occurred in 2024, click here.
2024 vacancies
...by state
...by month
...by selection method
...by appointing party
Below is a table of all 2024 state supreme court vacancies. The table shows the court in which the vacancy occurred, the date the outgoing justice left office, the reason for the vacancy, and the court's method of selection. When available, the table will show the name of the successor and the date they were appointed or elected to the court. The final two columns will say ‘TBD’ until the successor has been named.
No vacancies were filled through nonpartisan special election in 2024.
Note: Nominations requiring confirmation are marked with an asterisk (*)
The list below compares the partisan affiliation of the governor who appointed the outgoing justice and the governor appointing the incoming justice. It is important to note that, while the partisan affiliation of the appointing party may suggest a judicial candidate's political leanings, it does not necessarily indicate an appointed justice's political affiliation, nor how they will rule on the court.
Vacancies where a Democratic governor appointed a replacement for a Democratic-appointee
The map below shows how each state fills full-term vacancies. When a justice vacates their seat near the end of their term, or when a justice serving an unexpired term finishes their term, the following selection methods are used. In states with retention elections, following the conclusion of a justice's first full term, the justice may choose to run in a retention election.
The map below highlights selection methods in state supreme courts across the country.
The map below shows how each state fills partial-term vacancies. When a justice steps down before their term is scheduled to end, the following selection methods are used. After the succeeding justice serves out the remainder of their predecessor's term, states will use full-term selection methods to select a justice to serve a full term. Depending on the state, the incumbent justice can be selected again using a state's full-term selection method.
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
The map below shows which states hold retention elections. After a justice serves a complete term, they have the option to stand for retention. Retention elections, unlike partisan or nonpartisan elections, only list the incumbent justice, but allow voters to choose in favor of or against the justice remaining on the court.
The map below highlights selection methods in state supreme courts across the country, in those states that have retention as a valid selection method.
Monthly updates
Since April 2024, Ballotpedia has tracked all state supreme court vacancy actions and publishes this information in a monthly update with a compilation of all changes that occur during that month. Notice a monthly update that's missing something? Click here to let us know.
Click the dropdown below to view monthly updates from 2024:
2024 monthly state supreme court vacancy updates
Ballotpedia releases the state supreme court vacancies count for 2024
Monthly update
Twenty state supreme court justices vacated their seats before their term was scheduled to end in 2024. Of the 20 vacancies, 17 were caused by justices retiring, and three were caused by justices ascending to the chief justice position of the court. This is the first year since Ballotpedia started tracking state supreme court vacancies that a justice has not died in office within a given calendar year.
State supreme court vacancy count for December 2024
Monthly update
In this month’s state supreme court vacancy update, Ballotpedia tracked announced retirements, nominations, appointments, confirmations, and the swearing-in of justices from December 1 to December 30, 2024. Ballotpedia tracks court vacancies in all 52 state supreme courts.
State supreme court vacancy count for November 2024
Monthly update
In this month’s state supreme court vacancy update, Ballotpedia tracked announced retirements, nominations, appointments, confirmations, and the swearing-in of justices from November 2, 2024, to November 30, 2024. Ballotpedia tracks court vacancies in all 52 state supreme courts.
State supreme court vacancy count for October 2024
Monthly update
In this month’s state supreme court vacancy update, Ballotpedia tracked announced retirements, nominations, appointments, confirmations, and the swearing-in of justices from October 1, 2024, to November 1, 2024. Ballotpedia tracks court vacancies in all 52 state supreme courts.
State supreme court vacancy count for September 2024
Monthly update
In this month’s state supreme court vacancy update, Ballotpedia tracked announced retirements, nominations, appointments, confirmations, and swearings in of justices from September 2 to September 30, 2024. Ballotpedia tracks court vacancies in all 52 state supreme courts.
In this month’s state supreme court vacancy update, Ballotpedia tracked announced retirements, nominations, appointments, confirmations, and swearing-in of justices from July 26 to September 1. Ballotpedia tracks court vacancies in all 52 state supreme courts.
In this month’s state supreme court vacancy update, Ballotpedia tracked announced retirements, nominations, appointments, confirmations, and swearings in of justices from July 1, 2024, to July 25, 2024. Ballotpedia tracks court vacancies in all 52 state supreme courts.
In this month’s state supreme court vacancy update, Ballotpedia tracked announced retirements, nominations, appointments, confirmations, and the swearing-in of justices from June 1, 2024, to June 28, 2024. Ballotpedia tracks court vacancies in all 52 state supreme courts.
In this month’s state supreme court vacancy update, Ballotpedia tracked announced retirements, nominations, appointments, confirmations, and swearings in of justices from May 1, 2024, to May 31, 2024. Ballotpedia tracks court vacancies in all 52 state supreme courts.
In this month’s state supreme court vacancy update, Ballotpedia tracked announced retirements, nominations, appointments, confirmations, and swearings-in of justices from April 1 to April 30, 2024. Ballotpedia tracks court vacancies in all 52 state supreme courts.
State supreme court vacancies Use the dropdown menu below to navigate to Ballotpedia's coverage of state supreme court vacancies in other years.
Select your state from the dropdown menu or map below to navigate to the relevant state supreme court.
http://ballotpedia.org/STATE_Supreme_Court
Footnotes
↑Note: At the time of the vacancy, the South Carolina General Assembly had a Republican-majority in both chambers
↑Hecht was first elected through a partisan election. Hecht was a registered Republican when he first won election.
↑Note: Both special elections of state supreme court justices that Ballotpedia tracked in 2024 were partisan elections.
↑Note: Both legislative elections of state supreme court justices that Ballotpedia tracked in 2024 were South Carolina State Legislature. At the time of both justices' appointments, the majority of the legislators in the South Carolina State Legislature were registered with the Republican party.
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