The Federal Judicial Vacancy Count 7/1/2022

July 1, 2022

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

HIGHLIGHTS

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

Nominations: There were nine new nominations since the May 2022 report.

Confirmations: There were three new confirmations since the May 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 July 1, 2022

The vacancy level remained at blue in June 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

Three 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 Kanne died on June 16, 2022
• Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson left the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upon her elevation to the U.S. Supreme Court
• Judge Timothy Hillman assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Massachusetts

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 July 1, 2022.

U.S. District Court vacancies

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

New nominations

President Joe Biden (D) announced nine new nominations since the May 2022 report. Since taking office in January 2021, Biden has nominated 105 individuals to Article III positions.

• Roopali Desai to the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
• Dana Douglas to the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit
• Bradley Garcia to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
• Tamika Montgomery-Reeves to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• María Antongiorgi-Jordán to the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico
• Gina Méndez-Miró to the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico
• Frances Kay Behm to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
• Jerry Blackwell to the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota
• Camille Vélez-Rivé to the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico

New confirmations

There have been three new confirmations since the May 2022 report.

• Ana de Alba to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California
• Robert Huie to the United States District Court for the Southern District of California
• Nina Morrison to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York

As of July 1, 2022, the Senate had confirmed 69 of President Biden's judicial nominees—52 district court judges, 16 appeals court judges, and one Supreme Court justice—since his inauguration on January 20, 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), July 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 July 1 of the second year is 56.
• President Bill Clinton (D) made the most appointments through July 1 of his second year with 72, followed by President Joe Biden (D) with 69. President Barack Obama (D) made the fewest with 36.
• 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 July 1 of their second year in office. The confirmations are broken up by court type.

President Bill Clinton made the most Article III judicial appointments by this point in a presidency, 72, compared to other presidents since January 1981. President Joe Biden (D) made the second-most with 99. President Barack Obama (D) made the fewest appointments with 36.

• 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 14. President Trump had the most appointees with 21, followed by President Biden with 16. President Obama appointed the fewest with nine.
• The median number of United States District Court appointees is 48. President Clinton had the most appointees with 60, followed by President Biden with 52. President Trump appointed the fewest with 20.

See also

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