The Federal Judicial Vacancy Count 9/1/2025

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September 1, 2025

Welcome to the Federal Vacancy Count for September 1, 2025! 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, 2025, through September 1, 2025, and compares Article III judicial appointments over time by president and by court type through September 1 of their first year in office.

HIGHLIGHTS

Vacancies: There were three new judicial vacancies since the August 1, 2025 report. There are 50 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, 51 of 890 active federal judicial positions were vacant.

Nominations: There were 10 new official nominations since the previous report.

Confirmations: There were no new confirmations since the previous 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 September 1, 2025

The vacancy level was in August 2025. The total vacancy percentage was 5.7 percent, and there were 49 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 Daniel D. Crabtree assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.
• Judge Steven Merryday assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
• Judge Eric Melgren assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.

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 Donald Trump (R) to September 1, 2025.

Maps

The following maps show the number of vacancies on the United States Court of Appeals at the inauguration of President Donald Trump (R) and as of September 1, 2025.

U.S. District Court vacancies

The following map shows the number of vacancies in the United States District Courts as of September 1, 2025.

New nominations

President Donald Trump (R) announced 10 new nominations since the previous report. Since August 1, 2025, the president announced his intent to nominate the following individuals:

• Bill Lewis, to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.
• Edmund LaCour, to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
• Robert Chamberlin, to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.
• Jimmy Maxwell, to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.
• Harold Mooty, to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
• Rebecca Taibleson, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
• Lindsey Freeman, to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.
• David Bragdon, to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.
• Matthew Orso, to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
• Susan Rodriguez, to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

Since taking office for his second term in January 2025, President Donald Trump (R) made 27 Article III judicial nominations.

New confirmations

There have been no new confirmations since the previous report.

As of September 1, the Senate has confirmed five of President Trump's judicial nominees—three district court judges, two appeals court judges, no Court of International Trade judges, and no Supreme Court justices—since January 2025. To review a complete list of Trump's confirmed nominees from both presidential terms, 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 second term at four specific dates: end of first year in office, end of second year, September 1 of the first year, and Dec. 1 of the fourth year. It includes Presidents Bill Clinton (D) through Donald Trump (R).

• Presidents have made an average of 13.3 judicial appointments through September 1 of their first year in office.
• President Bill Clinton (D) made the most appointments through four years with 174. President George W. Bush (R) made the fewest through four years with 122.
• President Barack Obama (D) made the most appointments through two years with 134. President George W. Bush (R) made the fewest with 54.
• President Barack Obama (D) made the most appointments through one year in office with 45. President George W. Bush (R) made the fewest with 22.

Comparison of Article III judicial appointments over time by president and court type

See also: Federal judicial appointments by president

The table and chart below show the number of Article III judges confirmed by the U.S. Senate under each president since Bill Clinton as of September 1 of their first year and second term in office. The confirmations are broken up by court type.

• The median number of Supreme Court appointees is 0. No president had appointed any SCOTUS justices by this point in his presidency.
• The median number of United States Court of Appeals appointees is 4.5. President Obama had the most appointees with 8. President Trump appointed the fewest with 2.
• The median number of United States District Court appointees is 5. President Obama had the most appointees with 19. President Trump appointed the fewest with 3.

See also

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