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The Federal Judicial Vacancy Count 2/1/2026

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U.S. Federal Courts
Judicial vacancies during the Trump administration
Judicial vacancies in federal courts • Judicial vacancies during the Trump administration • Federal judges nominated by Donald Trump • Federal judicial appointments by president
ABA ratings of presidential federal judicial nominees • ABA ratings during the Trump administration • ABA ratings during the Biden administration


February 1, 2026

Welcome to the Federal Vacancy Count for February 1, 2026! The Federal Vacancy Count tracks vacancies, nominations, and confirmations to all United States Article III federal courts.

This month's edition covers vacancy activity from January 2, 2026, through February 1, 2026, and compares Article III judicial appointments over time by president and by court type through January 1 of their first year in office.[1]

HIGHLIGHTS
  • Vacancies: There was one new judicial vacancy since the January 1, 2026 report. There are 40 vacancies out of 870 active Article III judicial positions in courts covered in this report. Including the United States Court of Federal Claims and the United States territorial courts, 41 of 890 active federal judicial positions were vacant.
  • Nominations: There were four new official nominations since the previous report.[2]
  • Confirmations: There was one confirmation since the previous 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 February 1, 2026

    The vacancy level was Bluedot.png in January 2026. The total vacancy percentage was 4.7 percent, and there were 41 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 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. 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 February 1, 2026.

    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 February 1, 2026.


    U.S. District Court vacancies

    The following map shows the number of vacancies in the United States District Courts as of February 1, 2026.

    New nominations

    President Donald Trump (R) announced four new nominations since the previous report. Since February 1, 2026, the president announced his intent to nominate the following individuals:

    Since taking office for his second term in January 2025, President Donald Trump (R) made 39 Article III judicial nominations.

    New confirmations

    There has been one new confirmation since the previous report.

    As of January 1, the Senate has confirmed 27 of President Trump's judicial nominees—Twenty-one district court judges, six appeals court judges, no Court of International Trade judges, and no Supreme Court justices—since January 2025. To review a complete list of Trump's confirmed nominees from both presidential terms, 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 second term at four specific dates: end of first year in office, end of second year, February 1 of the second year, and Dec. 1 of the fourth year. It includes Presidents Bill Clinton (D) through Donald Trump (R).
    • Presidents have made an average of 34 judicial appointments through February 1 of their second year in office. President Barack Obama (D) had the most appointees confirmed with 46, and President George W. Bush (R) had the fewest confirmations with 23.
    • President Bill Clinton (D) made the most appointments through four years with 174. President George W. Bush (R) made the fewest through four years with 122.
    • President Barack Obama (D) made the most appointments through two years with 134. President George W. Bush (R) made the fewest with 54.
    • President Barack Obama (D) made the most appointments through one year in office with 45. President George W. Bush (R) made the fewest with 22.

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

    See also: Federal judicial appointments by president

    The table and chart below show the number of Article III judges confirmed by the U.S. Senate under each president since Bill Clinton as of February 1 of their second year and second term in office. The confirmations are broken up by court type.

    • The median number of Supreme Court appointees is none. Only President W. Bush had appointed a justice to the Supreme Court, and he appointed two justices at this point in his presidency.
    • The median number of United States Court of Appeals appointees is eight. President Obama had the most appointees with 12. President Trump appointed the fewest with six.
    • The median number of United States District Court appointees is 26. President Obama had the most appointees with 32. President W. Bush appointed the fewest with 14.

    See also

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ The U.S. Courts website publishes data for the previous month on the first of the following month.
    2. ↑ For the purposes of this data, Ballotpedia considers the announcement of the intent to nominate an individual as a nomination. This excludes renominations.
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