The Federal Judicial Vacancy Count 2/3/2020
February 3, 2020
Welcome to the Federal Vacancy Count for January 2020! The Federal Vacancy Count tracks vacancies, nominations, and confirmations to all United States Article III federal courts.
This month's edition covers January 3 to February 3 and compares Article III judicial appointments over time by president and by court type.
What's a vacancy?
A vacancy occurs when a judge resigns, retires, takes senior status, or passes away. 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 February 3, 2020
The vacancy level remained at blue in January 2020. The total vacancy percentage was 8.6 percent, and there were 75 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. As Article III judicial positions, these 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.[1]
- Judge Christopher Boyko assumed senior status on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
- Judge Dora Irizarry assumed senior status on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
- Judge Lawrence O'Neill assumed senior status on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California.
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 the date indicated on the chart.
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 February 3, 2020.
U.S. District Court vacancies
New nominations
President Donald Trump (R) has announced one new nomination since the December 2019 report.
- Drew Tipton, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
New confirmations
Since January 3, 2020, the United States Senate did not confirm any of President Trump's nominees to Article III seats. As of February 3, 2020, the Senate has confirmed 187 of President Trump’s judicial nominees—133 district court judges, 50 appeals court judges, two Court of International Trade judges, and two Supreme Court justices—since January 2017.
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 first term at four specific dates: December 31 of the first year, December 31 of the second year, December 31 of the third year, and February 1 of the fourth year. It includes Presidents Theodore Roosevelt (R) through Donald Trump (R).
- The average number of judicial appointees per president for the first three years through December 31 is 99.
- President John Kennedy (D) made the most appointments through his first year with 56. President Calvin Coolidge (R) made the fewest with none.
- President Bill Clinton (D) made the most appointments through two years with 128. President Theodore Roosevelt (R) made the fewest through two years with eight.
- President Jimmy Carter (D) made the most appointments through three years with 197. President T. Roosevelt made the fewest at that point with 23.
Comparison of Article III judicial appointments over time by president and court type
The table below shows the number of Article III judges confirmed by the U.S. Senate under each of the last 20 presidents as of February 1 of their fourth year in office. The confirmations are broken up by court type.
- The median number of Supreme Court appointees is two. William Taft's (R) five appointments were the most among this set. Presidents Franklin Roosevelt (D), Jimmy Carter (D), and George W. Bush (R) did not appoint any justices.
- The median number of United States Court of Appeals appointees is 19. Trump appointed the most with 50, and President Woodrow Wilson (D) appointed the fewest with five.
- The median number of United States District Court appointees is 67. Bill Clinton (D) appointed the most with 151, and President Theodore Roosevelt appointed the fewest with 14.
See also
- United States federal courts
- Current federal judicial vacancies
- Judicial vacancies during the Trump administration
- The Trump administration on federal courts
Footnotes
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