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The Federal Judicial Vacancy Count 1/2/2020

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January 2, 2020

Welcome to the Federal Vacancy Count for December 2019! The Federal Vacancy Count tracks vacancies, nominations, and confirmations to all United States Article III federal courts.

This month's edition covers December 3 to January 2 and compares Article III judicial appointments over time by president and by court type.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • Vacancies: There have been three new judicial vacancies since the November 2019 report. There are 72 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, 80 of 890 active federal judicial positions are vacant.
  • Nominations: There have been four new nominations since the November 2019 report.
  • Confirmations: There have been 23 new confirmations since the November 2019 report.

    • What's a vacancy?

    A vacancy occurs when a judge resigns, retires, takes senior status, or passes away. 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 2, 2020

    The vacancy level changed from yellow to blue in December 2019. The total vacancy percentage was 8.3 percent, and there were 72 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

    Three judges left active status, creating Article III life-term judicial vacancies. As Article III judicial positions, these 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.[1]


    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 Donald Trump (R) 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 Donald Trump (R) and as of January 2, 2020.


    U.S. District Court vacancies

    New nominations

    President Donald Trump (R) has announced four new nominations since the November 2019 report.[2][3]

    • Thomas Cullen, to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
    • Anna Manasco, to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
    • John L. Badalamenti, to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
    • Stephen P. McGlynn, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.


    New confirmations

    Since December 3, 2019, the United States Senate confirmed 23 of President Trump's nominees to Article III seats. As of January 2, 2020, the Senate has confirmed 187 of President Trump’s judicial nominees—133 district court judges, 50 appeals court judges, two Court of International Trade judges, and two Supreme Court justices—since January 2017.


    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 three specific dates: December 31 of the first year, December 31 of the second year, and December 31 of the third year. It includes Presidents Theodore Roosevelt (R) through Donald Trump (R).

    • The average number of judicial appointees per president for the first three years through December 31 is 99.
    • President John Kennedy (D) made the most appointments through his first year with 56. President Calvin Coolidge (R) made the fewest with none.
    • President Bill Clinton (D) made the most appointments through two years with 128. President Theodore Roosevelt (R) made the fewest through two years with eight.
    • President Jimmy Carter (D) made the most appointments through three years with 197. President T. Roosevelt made the fewest at that point with 23.

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

    See also: Federal judicial appointments by president

    The table below shows the number of Article III judges confirmed by the U.S. Senate under each of the last 20 presidents at the end of their third year in office. The confirmations are broken up by court type.

    See also

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ United States Courts, "Current judicial vacancies," accessed January 2, 2020
    2. ↑ WhiteHouse.gov, "President Donald J. Trump Announces Judicial Nominees and United States Marshal Nominees," December 18, 2019
    3. ↑ WhiteHouse.gov, "President Donald J. Trump Announces Judicial Nominees," December 23, 2019
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