The Federal Vacancy Count 4/25/2018

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

April 25, 2018

Welcome to the Federal Vacancy Count for April 2018! The Federal Vacancy Count tracks vacancies, nominations, and confirmations to all United States Article III federal courts, the United States Court of Federal Claims, and the district courts for the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

This month's edition includes nominations, confirmations, and vacancies from March 30, 2018, to April 25, 2018.

HIGHLIGHTS

Vacancies: There were four new judicial vacancies since the March 2018 report. There are 149 vacancies out of 890 active judicial positions on courts covered in this report.

Nominations: There were 20 new nominations since the March 2018 report.

Confirmations: There were four new confirmations since the March 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 only 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 process of filling a vacancy is prescribed by the Constitution. The president nominates a candidate, who then must be confirmed by the United States Senate.

Vacancy Count for April 25, 2018

The vacancy warning level remained at yellow this month. The total vacancy percentage was 16.7 percent and there were 149 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	10.6% or 19 vacancies
District Courts	677	18.02% or 122 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.

• Judge Cindy Jorgenson elected to take senior status on the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.
• Judge Edward Prado elected to retire from the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
• Judge Melinda Harmon elected to take senior status on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
• Judge Leon Holmes elected to take senior status on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

New nominations

President Donald Trump announced 20 new nominations since the March 2018 report.

• Britt C. Grant, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
• Paul B. Matey, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
• David J. Porter, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
• Raúl M. Arias-Marxuach, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
• Pamela A. Barker, to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
• Kenneth D. Bell , to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
• Wendy Williams Berger, to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
• Holly A. Brady, to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.
• Andrew L. Brasher, to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.
• Stephen R. Clark, Sr., to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
• J.P. Hanlon, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
• Jonathan W. Katchen, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska.
• Mary McElroy, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
• David S. Morales, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
• Sarah Daggett Morrison, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
• John M. O’Connor, to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern, Northern, and Western Districts of Oklahoma.
• Emin Toro, to the U.S. Tax Court.
• Lance E. Walker, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine.
• Allen C. Winsor, to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
• Patrick Wyrick, to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.

New confirmations

Since March 30, 2018, the United States Senate has confirmed four more of President Trump's nominees to Article III seats. As of April 25, 2018, the Senate has confirmed 32 of President Trump’s judicial nominees.

• Rebecca Grady Jennings, confirmed to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.
• John Broomes, confirmed to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Kansas.
• Claria Horn Boom, confirmed to a shared seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky and the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.
• Kyle Duncan, confirmed to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.

See also

• United States federal courts
• Current federal judicial vacancies
• Six-month checkup on federal judicial vacancies during Trump's first term
• Judicial vacancies during the Trump administration
• The Trump administration on federal courts