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The Federal Judicial Vacancy Count 10/1/2020

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October 1, 2020

Welcome to the Federal Vacancy Count for September 2020! The Federal Vacancy Count tracks vacancies, nominations, and confirmations to all United States Article III federal courts.

This month's edition covers September 2 to October 1 and compares Article III judicial appointments over time by president and by court type.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • Vacancies: There have been two new judicial vacancies since the August 2020 report. There are 59 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, 64 of 890 active federal judicial positions are vacant.
  • Nominations: There have been four new nominations since the August 2020 report.
  • Confirmations: There have been 15 new confirmations since the August 2020 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 October 1, 2020

    The vacancy level remained at blue in September 2020. The total vacancy percentage was 6.8 percent, and there were 59 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

    Two 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.

    U.S. Supreme Court vacancy

    See also: Supreme Court vacancy, 2020

    Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on September 18, 2020, at the age of 87.[1] Ginsburg was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton (D) and confirmed to the court in 1993. She was the second woman to ever serve on the Supreme Court. Click here for more information about the process to fill her seat.


    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 October 1, 2020.


    U.S. District Court vacancies

    New nominations

    President Donald Trump (R) has announced four new nominations since the August 2020 report.


    New confirmations

    Since September 2, 2020, the United States Senate has confirmed 15 of President Trump's nominees to Article III seats. As of October 1, 2020, the Senate has confirmed 218 of President Trump’s judicial nominees—161 district court judges, 53 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 four specific dates: December 31 of the first year, December 31 of the second year, December 31 of the third year, and October 1 of the fourth year. It includes Presidents Jimmy Carter (D) through Donald Trump (R).

    • The average number of judicial appointees per president through October 1 of the fourth year is 197.
    • President Ronald Reagan (R) made the most appointments through his first year with 41. President Barack Obama (D) made the fewest with 13.
    • President Bill Clinton (D) made the most appointments through two years with 128. Presidents Jimmy Carter (D) and Obama (D) made the fewest through two years with 62 each.
    • President Jimmy Carter (D) made the most appointments through three years with 197. President Reagan (R) made the fewest at that point with 122.

    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 October 1 of their fourth year in office. The confirmations are broken up by court type.

    See also

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ The New York Times, "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Dies at 87," September 18, 2020
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