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The Federal Judicial Vacancy Count 9/1/2022
September 1, 2022
Welcome to the Federal Vacancy Count for September 1, 2022! The Federal Vacancy Count tracks vacancies, nominations, and confirmations to all United States Article III federal courts.
This month's edition covers activity from August 2, 2022, through September 1, 2022, and compares Article III judicial appointments over time by president and by court type.[1]
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 September 1, 2022
The vacancy level remained at blue in August 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
Five 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 Gershwin Drain assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
- Judge Abdul Kallon retired from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama
- Judge Gregg Costa retired from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit
- Judge Judith Rogers assumed senior status on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- Judge John T. Fowlkes assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
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 September 1, 2022.
U.S. District Court vacancies
The following map shows the number of vacancies in the United States District Courts as of September 1, 2022.
New nominations
President Joe Biden (D) announced two new nominations since the previous report:
- DeAndrea Benjamin to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- Jabari Wamble to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Since taking office in January 2021, Biden has nominated 141 individuals to Article III positions.
New confirmations
There have been two new confirmations since the previous report:
- Elizabeth Hanes to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
- Roopali Desai to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
As of September 1, 2022, the Senate had confirmed 76 of President Biden's Article III judicial nominees—57 district court judges, 18 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
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), September 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 September 1 of the second year is 67.
- President Bill Clinton (D) made the most appointments through September 1 of his second year with 85. President Barack Obama (D) made the fewest with 42.
- 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
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 September 1 of their second year in office. The confirmations are broken up by court type.
- The median number of Supreme Court appointees is one. Three presidents (Reagan, Trump, and Biden) made one appointment. Two presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, made two. Two presidents (H.W. Bush and W. Bush) did not appoint any justices.
- The median number of United States Court of Appeals appointees is 18. President Trump had the most appointees with 26. President Obama appointed the fewest with 10.
- The median number of United States District Court appointees is 57. President Clinton had the most appointees with 70. President Obama appointed the fewest with 30.
See also
- United States federal courts
- Current federal judicial vacancies
- Judicial vacancies during the Biden administration
- The Biden administration on federal courts
Footnotes
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