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The Federal Vacancy Count 10/31/2018

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



October 31, 2018

Welcome to the Federal Vacancy Count for October 2018! 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 September 27, 2018, to October 31, 2018.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • Vacancies: There have been seven new judicial vacancies since the September 2018 report. There are 133 vacancies out of 890 active judicial positions on courts covered in this report.
  • Nominations: There have been 13 new nominations since the September 2018 report.
  • Confirmations: There have been 16 new confirmations since the September 2018 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 October 31, 2018

    The vacancy warning level remained at yellow this month. The yellow vacancy warning level indicates that the percentage of vacant seats is between 10 percent and 25 percent. The total vacancy percentage was 14.9 percent and there were 133 vacancies out of 890 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 6.1% or 11 vacancies
    District Courts 677 16.1% or 109 vacancies
    International Trade 9 22.2% or 2 vacancies


    New vacancies

    The following judges vacated their active statuses, creating Article III life-term judicial vacancies. As Article III judicial positions, these vacancies must be filled by a nomination from the president. Nominations are then subject to confirmation on the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate.

    New nominations

    President Donald Trump announced 13 new nominations since the September 2018 report.

    • Joseph Bianco, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
    • Michael Park, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
    • Patrick Bumatay, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
    • Daniel Collins, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
    • Kenneth Kiyul Lee, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
    • Stanley Blumenfeld, to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
    • Brian Buescher, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska.
    • Clifton L. Corker, to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
    • Philip Halpern, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
    • Thomas Marcelle, to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.
    • Matthew McFarland, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
    • Jeremy Rosen, to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
    • Mark Scarsi, to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

    New confirmations

    Since September 26, 2018, the United States Senate has confirmed 16 more of President Trump's nominees to Article III seats. As of October 31, 2018, the Senate has confirmed 84 of President Trump’s judicial nominees.

    Monthly map

    See also

    Footnotes

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