The Federal Judicial Vacancy Count 2/1/2022
February 1, 2022
Welcome to the Federal Vacancy Count for January 2022! 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 January through February 1, 2022, 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, 2022
The vacancy level remained at blue in January 2022. The total vacancy percentage was 9.1 percent, and there were 79 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
Five 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 Michael Juneau assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.
- Judge Martin Feldman of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana died on January 26, 2022.
- Judge Elizabeth Foote assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.
- Judge Julie Robinson assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.
- Judge Vanessa Gilmore retired from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
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, 2022.
U.S. District Court vacancies
The following map shows the number of vacancies in the United States District Courts as of February 1, 2022.
New nominations
President Joe Biden (D) has announced eight new nominations since the December 2021 report.
- Arianna Freeman, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- Ana de Alba, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California
- Tiffany Cartwright, to the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington
- Nusrat Choudhury, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
- Robert Huie, to the United States District Court for the Southern District of California
- Natasha Merle, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
- Jennifer Rearden, to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
- Nina Y. Wang, to the United States District Court for the District of Colorado
New confirmations
There have been five new confirmations since the December 2021 report.
- Holly Thomas, to the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
- Gabriel Sanchez, to the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
- Bridget Brennan, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
- Charles Fleming, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
- David Ruiz, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
As of February 1, 2022, the Senate had confirmed 45 of President Biden's judicial nominees—32 district court judges and 13 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
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 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 February 1 of the second year is 29.
- President Joe Biden (D) made the most appointments through February 1 of his second year with 45, followed by President Ronald Reagan (R) with 41. President Barack Obama (D) made the fewest with 15.
- 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
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 February 1 of their second year in office. The confirmations are broken up by court type.
President Biden made the most Article III judicial appointments by this point in a presidency, 45, compared to his predecessors since January 1981. President Ronald Reagan (R) made the second-most with 41. President Barack Obama (D) made the fewest appointments with 15.
- 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. Presidents Biden and Trump tied for the most appointees with 13 each, followed by President Reagan with 8. President Clinton appointed the fewest with three.
- The median number of United States District Court appointees is 24. Presidents Biden and Reagan tied for the most appointees with 32 each. Presidents Trump and Obama appointed the fewest with 10 each.
See also
- United States federal courts
- Current federal judicial vacancies
- Judicial vacancies during the Biden administration
- The Biden administration on federal courts
Footnotes
- ↑ For the purposes of this data, Ballotpedia considers the announcement of the intent to nominate an individual as a nomination.
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