Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.

The Federal Judicial Vacancy Count 3/27/2019

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search


FederalVacancy yellow.png
Key:
(Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.)
0%1%-9%
10%-24%25%-40%
More than 40%



March 27, 2019

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

This month's edition includes nominations, confirmations, and vacancies from February 28, 2019, to March 27, 2019.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • Vacancies: There were five new judicial vacancies since the February 2019 report. There are 141 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, 152 of 890 active federal judicial positions are vacant.
  • Nominations: There have been nine new nominations since the February 2019 report.
  • Confirmations: There have been six new confirmations since the February 2019 report.


    • What's a vacancy?

    A vacancy occurs when a judge resigns, retires, takes senior status, or passes away. Article III judges are appointed for life terms. 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. Unless a judge is impeached and removed from office—something that has occurred eight times in the history of the federal judiciary—it is entirely up to the judge 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.

    Vacancy count for March 27, 2019

    The current vacancy level remained at yellow in March. The total vacancy percentage was 16.2 percent and there were 141 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.

    Vacancies by court

    Court # of Seats Vacancies
    Supreme Court 9 0% or 0 vacancies
    Appeals Courts 179 5.0% or 9 vacancies
    District Courts
    (Including territorial courts)[1]     		677 18.9% or 128 vacancies
    International Trade 9 44.4% or 4 vacancies


    New vacancies

    The following judges vacated their active statuses, creating Article III life-term judicial vacancies. As Article III judicial positions, these vacancies must be filled by a nomination from the president. Nominations are then subject to confirmation on the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate.


    New nominations

    President Donald Trump (R) announced nine new nominations since the February 2019 report.

    • Robert J. Colville, to the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
    • Stephanie Haines, to the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
    • Jason Pulliam, to the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
    • Michael Bogren, to the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan.
    • Jeff Brown, to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
    • Stephanie Dawkins Davis, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
    • Brantley Starr, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
    • Ada Brown, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
    • David J. Novak, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.


    New confirmations

    Since February 28, 2019, the United States Senate confirmed six of President Trump's nominees to an Article III seat. As of March 27, 2019, the Senate has confirmed 92 of President Trump’s judicial nominees.


    Monthly map

    See also

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ 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.
    v • e
    Ballotpedia Email Updates
    Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Federal_Judicial_Vacancy_Count_3/27/2019&oldid=10021321"