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The Federal Judicial Vacancy Count 10/1/2019

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October 1, 2019

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

This month's edition covers September 2, 2019, to October 1, 2019, and compares Article III judicial appointments over time by president and by court type.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • Vacancies: There has been one new judicial vacancy since the August 2019 report. There are 98 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, 107 of 890 active federal judicial positions are vacant.
  • Nominations: There have been 23 new nominations since the August 2019 report.
  • Confirmations: There have been six new confirmations since the August 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 October 1, 2019

    The vacancy level remained at yellow in September. The total vacancy percentage was 10.1 percent, and there were 98 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

    One judge left active status, creating an Article III life-term judicial vacancy. As an Article III judicial position, this vacancy 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

    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, 2019.


    New nominations

    President Donald Trump (R) has announced 23 new nominations since the August 2019 report.[2][3][4]

    • Danielle Hunsaker, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
    • William Nardini, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.
    • Fernando Aenlle-Rocha, to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
    • Adam Braverman, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
    • Silvia Carreno-Coll, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
    • John Gallagher, to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
    • Barbara Bailey Jongbloed, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.
    • Sandy Nunes Leal, to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
    • Shireen Matthews, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
    • Rick Richmond, to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
    • Daniel Traynor, to the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota.
    • Cory Wilson, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.
    • Barbara Lagoa, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
    • Robert J. Luck, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
    • Sherri Lydon, to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.
    • Scott Rash, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.
    • Todd Robinson, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
    • Patrick Bumatay, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
    • Lawrence VanDyke, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
    • John Holcomb, to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
    • Knut Johnson, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
    • Steve Kim, to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
    • Michelle Pettit, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.


    New confirmations

    Since August 28, 2019, the United States Senate confirmed six of President Trump's nominees to Article III seats. As of October 3, 2019, the Senate has confirmed 152 of President Trump’s judicial nominees.


    Comparison of Article III judicial appointments over time 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 October 1 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 October 1 is 87.
    • 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.
    • Clinton also made the most appointments through October 1 of year three with 166. President T. Roosevelt made the fewest at that point with 18.

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

    As of October 2019, the breakdown of Article III judges is as follows:

    • Supreme Court of the United States: 9 justices
    • United States court of appeals: 179 judgeships
    • United States district court: 677 judgeships
    • United States Court of International Trade: 9 judgeships

    The chart below shows the number of Article III judges confirmed by the U.S. Senate under each of the last 20 presidents on or before October 1 of their third years in office. The confirmations are broken up by court type.

    See also

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ United States Courts, "Current judicial vacancies," accessed October 3, 2019
    2. ↑ WhiteHouse.gov, "President Donald J. Trump Announces Judicial Nominees and United States Marshal Nominee," August 28, 2019
    3. ↑ WhiteHouse.gov, "President Donald J. Trump Announces Judicial Nominees," September 12, 2019
    4. ↑ WhiteHouse.gov, "President Donald J. Trump Announces Judicial Nominees and United States Marshal Nominee," September 20, 2019
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