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The Federal Judicial Vacancy Count 4/24/2019

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



April 24, 2019

Welcome to the Federal Vacancy Count for April 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 March 28, 2019, to April 24, 2019.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • Vacancies: There was one new judicial vacancy since the March 2019 report. There are 137 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, 148 of 890 active federal judicial positions are vacant.
  • Nominations: There have been two new nominations and 12 renominations since the March 2019 report.
  • Confirmations: There have been five new confirmations since the March 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 April 24, 2019

    The current vacancy level remained at yellow in April. The total vacancy percentage was 15.7 percent and there were 137 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 4.5% or 8 vacancies
    District Courts
    (Including territorial courts)[1]     		677 18.5% or 125 vacancies
    International Trade 9 44.4% or 4 vacancies


    New vacancies

    The following judge vacated his 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.

    New nominations

    President Donald Trump (R) announced two new nominations since the March 2019 report.

    • Steven Grimberg, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
    • Frank W. Volk, to the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

    The president also resubmitted 12 nominations.

    • Gary R. Brown, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
    • Stephanie A. Gallagher, to the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.
    • Diane Gujarati, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
    • Lewis Liman, to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
    • Eric Komitee, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
    • Rachel Kovner, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
    • Mary McElroy, to the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
    • Martha Pacold, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
    • Mary Rowland, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
    • Steven Seeger, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
    • John Sinatra, to the United States District Court for the Western District of New York.
    • Mary Kay Vyskocil, to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.


    New confirmations

    Since March 28, 2019, the United States Senate confirmed five of President Trump's nominees to an Article III seat. As of April 24, 2019, the Senate has confirmed 97 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.
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