The Federal Vacancy Count 9/26/2018
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September 26, 2018
Welcome to the Federal Vacancy Count for September 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 August 29, 2018, to September 26, 2018.
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 September 26, 2018
The vacancy warning level remained at yellow this month. The total vacancy percentage was 16.0 percent and there were 142 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 | 11.1% or 1 vacancies |
| Appeals Courts | 179 | 7.3% or 13 vacancies |
| District Courts | 677 | 17.0% or 115 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 Lawrence F. Stengel retired from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
- Judge Alvin W. Thompson elected to take senior status on the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.
- Judge Reena Raggi elected to take senior status on the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.
- Judge Katherine B. Forrest resigned from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
- Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater elected to take senior status on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
New nominations
President Donald Trump did not announce any new nominations since the August 2018 report.
New confirmations
Since August 29, 2018, the United States Senate has confirmed eight more of President Trump's nominees to Article III seats. As of September 26, 2018, the Senate has confirmed 68 of President Trump’s judicial nominees.
- Kari A. Dooley, confirmed to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.
- Marilyn J. Horan, confirmed to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
- William F. Jung, confirmed to a seat on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
- Alan D. Albright, confirmed to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
- Dominic W. Lanza, confirmed to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.
- Robert R. Summerhays, confirmed to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.
- Eric C. Tostrud, confirmed to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.
- Charles J. Williams, confirmed to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Iowa.
Monthly map
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
Footnotes
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