The Federal Judicial Vacancy Count 1/1/2022

January 1, 2022

Welcome to the Federal Vacancy Count for December 2021! The Federal Vacancy Count tracks vacancies, nominations, and confirmations to all United States Article III federal courts.

This month's edition covers activity during the month of December through January 1, 2022, and compares Article III judicial appointments over time by president and by court type.

HIGHLIGHTS

Vacancies: There have been nine new judicial vacancies since the November 2021 report. There are 74 vacancies out of 870 active Article III judicial positions on courts covered in this report. Including the United States Court of Federal Claims and the United States territorial courts, 76 of 890 active federal judicial positions are vacant.

Nominations: There were 11 new nominations since the November 2021 report.

Confirmations: There were 12 new confirmations since the November 2021 report.

What's a vacancy?

A vacancy occurs when a judge resigns, retires, takes senior status, or dies. Article III judges refer to judges who serve on courts authorized by Article III of the Constitution, which created and enumerated the powers of the judiciary. Article III judges are appointed for life terms. Unless a judge is impeached and removed from office—something that has occurred eight times in the history of the federal judiciary—it is the judge's decision how long they remain on the court. When judges decide to leave active duty, they may either retire completely from the court or take senior status.

To take senior status, judges must meet certain age and service requirements. Senior status is a classification for federal judges at all levels who are semi-retired. Senior judges continue to serve on federal courts while hearing a reduced number of cases. Both a decision to retire and a decision to take senior status trigger a vacancy.

The Constitution prescribes the process of filling a vacancy. The president nominates a candidate, who then must be confirmed by the United States Senate. There are multiple steps to the process:

• The president nominates an individual for a judicial seat.
• The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing with the nominee.
• After the hearing, the Senate Judiciary Committee votes to approve or return the nominee.
• If approved, the Senate holds a vote on the candidate.

For more information on this process, click here.

Vacancy count for January 1, 2022

The vacancy level remained at blue in December 2021. The total vacancy percentage was 8.5 percent, and there were 74 vacancies out of 870 Article III judicial positions.

A breakdown of the vacancies at each level can be found in the table below. For a more detailed look at the vacancies on the federal courts, click here.

Key:
(Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.)
0%	1%-9%
10%-24%	25%-40%
More than 40%

Though the United States territorial courts are named as district courts, they are not Article III courts. They are created in accordance with the power granted under Article IV of the U.S. Constitution. Click here for more information.

New vacancies

Nine judges left active status, creating Article III life-term judicial vacancies, since the previous vacancy count. As Article III judicial positions, vacancies must be filled by a nomination from the president. Nominations are subject to confirmation on the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate.

• Judge Francisco Besosa assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
• Judge Timothy Burgess assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska.
• Judge Henry Floyd assumed senior status on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.
• Judge Lucy H. Koh left the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California upon her elevation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
• Judge William Kuntz assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
• Judge Michael Mosman assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon.
• Judge Susan Richard Nelson assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.
• Judge Cynthia Rufe assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
• Judge Brooks Smith assumed senior status on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.

U.S. Court of Appeals vacancies

Chart

The following chart tracks the number of vacancies on the United States Court of Appeals from the inauguration of President Joe Biden (D) to the date indicated on the chart.

Maps

The following maps show the number of vacancies on the United States Court of Appeals at the inauguration of President Joe Biden (D) and as of January 1, 2022.

U.S. District Court vacancies

The following map shows the number of vacancies in the United States District Courts as of January 1, 2022.

New nominations

President Joe Biden (D) has announced 11 new nominations since the November 2021 report.

• Nancy Gbana Abudu, to the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
• J. Michelle Childs, to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
• Jessica Clarke, to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
• Sherilyn P. Garnett, to the United States District Court for the Central District of California
• Hector Gonzalez, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
• Kenly Kiya Kato, to the United States District Court for the Central District of California
• Nina Morrison, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
• William Pocan, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
• Jennifer Rochon, to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
• Fred W. Slaughter, to the United States District Court for the Central District of California
• Sunshine S. Sykes, to the United States District Court for the Central District of California

New confirmations

There have been 12 new confirmations since the November 2021 report.

• Lucy H. Koh, to the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
• Jennifer Sung, to the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
• Jane Beckering, to the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan
• Mary Dimke, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington
• Samantha Elliott, to the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire
• Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, to the United States District Court for the Central District of California
• Shalina Kumar, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
• Linda Lopez, to the United States District Court for the Southern District of California
• Katherine Menendez, to the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota
• Jinsook Ohta, to the United States District Court for the Southern District of California
• Jennifer L. Thurston, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California
• David Herrera Urias, to the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico

As of January 1, 2022, the Senate had confirmed 40 of President Biden's judicial nominees—29 district court judges and 11 appeals court judges—since his term start in January 2021. To review a complete list of Biden's confirmed nominees, click here.

Comparison of Article III judicial appointments over time by president

See also: Federal judicial appointments by president

The chart below details the number of Article III judicial appointments during each president's first term at four specific dates: on their inauguration day (January 20th), January 1 of the second year, December 31 of the second year, and December 31 of the fourth year. It includes Presidents Ronald Reagan (R) through Joe Biden (D).

• The average number of judicial appointees per president through January 1 of the second year is 26.
• President Ronald Reagan (R) made the most appointments through his first year with 41, followed by President Joe Biden (D) with 40. President Barack Obama (D) made the fewest with 13.
• President Donald Trump (R) made the most appointments through four years with 234. President Ronald Reagan (R) made the fewest through four years with 166.

Comparison of Article III judicial appointments over time by president and court type

See also: Federal judicial appointments by president

The chart below shows the number of Article III judges confirmed by the U.S. Senate under each of the last seven presidents as of January 1 of their second year in office. The confirmations are broken up by court type.

President Biden made the second-most Article III judicial appointments by this point in a presidency, 40, compared to his predecessors since January 1981. President Ronald Reagan (R) made the most with 41. President Barack Obama (D) made the fewest appointments with 11.

• The median number of Supreme Court appointees is one. Four presidents (Reagan, Clinton, Obama, and Trump) made one appointment. Three presidents (H.W. Bush, W. Bush, and Biden) had not appointed any.
• The median number of United States Court of Appeals appointees is six. President Trump appointed the most with 12, followed by President Biden with 11. Presidents Clinton and Obama appointed the fewest with three.
• The median number of United States District Court appointees is 22. President Biden appointed the most with 29. President Trump appointed the fewest with six.

See also

• United States federal courts
• Current federal judicial vacancies
• Judicial vacancies during the Biden administration
• The Biden administration on federal courts