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The Federal Judicial Vacancy Count 2/1/2021
February 1, 2021
Welcome to the Federal Vacancy Count for January 2021! The Federal Vacancy Count tracks vacancies, nominations, and confirmations to all United States Article III federal courts.
This month's edition covers January 1 to February 1 and compares Article III judicial appointments over time by president and by court type.
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 February 1, 2021
The vacancy level remained at blue in January 2021. The total vacancy percentage was 6.2 percent, and there were 54 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
Eleven 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 William Alsup assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
- Judge Janet Hall assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.
- Judge Robert Katzmann assumed senior status on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.
- Judge Larry Burns assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
- Judge Theresa Springmann assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.
- Judge Dan Polster assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
- Judge James Gwin assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
- Judge Carlos Lucero assumed senior status on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.
- Judge Jeffrey White assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
- Judge Phyllis Hamilton assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
- Judge Roslynn Mauskopf retired from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
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 February 1, 2021.
U.S. District Court vacancies
The following map shows the number of vacancies in the United States District Courts as of February 1, 2021.
New nominations
As of February 1, 2021, President Joe Biden (D) had not announced any new nominations.
New confirmations
As of February 1, 2021, there have been no federal judicial confirmations during the Biden administration.
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 four specific dates: on their inauguration day (January 20th), February 1 of the first year, December 31 of the first 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 February 1 of the first year is 0.
- President Ronald Reagan (R) made the most appointments through his first year with 41. 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
By February 1 of their first year in office, none of the past seven presidents had made Article III judicial appointments.
See also
- United States federal courts
- Current federal judicial vacancies
- Judicial vacancies during the Biden administration
- The Biden administration on federal courts
Footnotes
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