The Federal Judicial Vacancy Count 5/1/2022

May 1, 2022

Welcome to the Federal Vacancy Count for April 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 April through May 1, 2022, and compares Article III judicial appointments over time by president and by court type.

HIGHLIGHTS

Vacancies: There have been four new judicial vacancies since the March 2022 report. There are 75 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, 77 of 890 active federal judicial positions are vacant.

Nominations: There were 10 new nominations since the March 2022 report.

Confirmations: There were two new confirmations since the March 2022 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 May 1, 2022

The vacancy level remained at blue in April 2022. The total vacancy percentage was 8.6 percent, and there were 75 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

Four 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 David Nuffer assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah
• Judge Noel Hillman assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
• Judge John Mendez assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
• Judge Denise Hood assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

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 May 1, 2022.

U.S. District Court vacancies

The following map shows the number of vacancies in the United States District Courts as of May 1, 2022.

New nominations

President Joe Biden (D) announced 10 new nominations since the March 2022 report. Since taking office in January 2021, Biden has nominated 93 individuals to Article III positions.

• John Z. Lee, to the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit
• Sal Mendoza, Jr., to the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
• Sarah A.L. Merriam, to the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit
• Lara Montecalvo, to the United States Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit
• Elizabeth Hanes, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
• Stephen Locher, to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
• Nancy Maldonado, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
• Anne Nardacci, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York
• Ana Reyes, to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
• Gregory Williams, to the United States District Court for the District of Delaware

New confirmations

There have been two new confirmations since the March 2022 report.

• Ketanji Brown Jackson, to the Supreme Court of the United States
• Sherilyn P. Garnett, to the United States District Court for the Central District of California

As of May 1, 2022, the Senate had confirmed 60 of President Biden's judicial nominees—44 district court judges, 15 appeals court judges, and one Supreme Court justice—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

See also: Federal judicial appointments 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), May 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 May 1 of the second year is 44.
• President Joe Biden (D) made the most appointments through May 1 of his second year with 60, followed by President Ronald Reagan (R) with 58. President Barack Obama (D) made the fewest with 21.
• 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

See also: Federal judicial appointments by president

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 May 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, 60, compared to his predecessors since January 1981. President Ronald Reagan (R) made the second-most with 58. President Barack Obama (D) made the fewest appointments with 21.

• The median number of Supreme Court appointees is one. Five presidents (Reagan, Clinton, Obama, Trump, and Biden) made one appointment. Two presidents (H.W. Bush and W. Bush) had not appointed any.
• The median number of United States Court of Appeals appointees is 12. Presidents Biden and Trump tied for the most appointees with 15, followed by President Reagan with 13. President Clinton appointed the fewest with five.
• The median number of United States District Court appointees is 41. Presidents Biden and Reagan tied for the most appointees with 44, followed by President W. Bush with 43. President Obama appointed the fewest with 11.

See also

• United States federal courts
• Current federal judicial vacancies
• Judicial vacancies during the Biden administration
• The Biden administration on federal courts