The Federal Vacancy Count 4/29/2015

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

April 29, 2015

By Courtney Collins

This month's Federal Vacancy Count includes nominations, confirmations and vacancies from April 15, 2015, to April 28, 2015. Nominations, confirmations and vacancies occurring on April 29 will be reflected in the May report.

The Federal Vacancy Count will be released on the last Wednesday of each month moving forward. Confirmations, nominations and vacancies occurring throughout the month will still be updated and added as usual, but will be pulled into one monthly article as opposed to four or five weekly articles every month.

The vacancy warning level remained at blue this month after one new vacancy, one new nomination and one new confirmation. The vacancy percentage remained at 6.2 percent, and the total number of nominees waiting for confirmation remained at 17. The number of vacancies of Article III judges remained at 54 out of 874. A breakdown of the vacancies on each level can be found in the table below. For a more detailed look at the vacancies on the federal courts, see our Federal Court Vacancy Warning System.

Vacancies by court

Court	# of Seats	Vacancies
Supreme Court	9	0% or no vacancies
Appeals Courts	179	5.0% or 9 vacancies
District Courts	677	6.1% or 41 vacancies
International Trade	9	44.4% or 4 vacancies
All Judges	874	6.2% or 54 vacancies

New vacancies

Eighth Circuit

Kermit Bye

On April 22, 2015, Kermit Bye assumed senior status on the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. Bye joined the Eighth Circuit in 2000, after an appointment from Bill Clinton. No one is currently nominated to fill the vacancy created by Kermit Bye. The transition creates the only vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. The vacancy warning level rose from green to blue.

New confirmations

Southern District of Texas

George Hanks

On April 20, 2015, the United States Senate confirmed George Hanks to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas on a vote of 91-0. Hanks remains with the Southern District of Texas as he is elevated from a federal magistrate judge to a federal judge. Hanks was confirmed 214 days after his nomination and fills the vacancy created by Nancy Atlas, who assumed senior status on June 20, 2014. The confirmation removed one of the vacancies on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. The vacancy warning level remains at yellow.

New nominations

District of Minnesota

Wilhelmina Wright

President Barack Obama nominated Wilhelmina Wright to the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota on April 15, 2015. Wright is currently a judge on the Minnesota Supreme Court. Her experience prior to joining the Minnesota Supreme Court includes being a judge for the Minnesota Court of Appeals and the Minnesota Second Judicial District. She also served as an assistant United States attorney for five years and an associate for Hogan & Hartson LLP for four years. She started her career as a law clerk for Judge Damon Keith of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Wright earned her undergraduate degree, graduating cum laude, from Yale University in 1986 and her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1989. Wright's nomination is for the future vacancy of Michael James Davis, who plans to retire in August 2015. The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota currently has no vacancies. The vacancy warning level is set at green.

Monthly map

The monthly map is updated every month and posted here and on the Federal Court Vacancy Warning System analysis page.

See also

• United States federal courts
• Federal Court Vacancy Warning System