Federal Courts, Empty Benches: The Wednesday Vacancy Count 3/14/2012
March 14, 2012
- For a District by District break down, see: Federal Court Vacancy Warning System
The current vacancy warning level for the U.S. District courts is set at Blue. This past week, the total was not changed. The final tally leaves 81 vacancies or approximately 9.3% of the total Article III posts currently unfilled. The vacancy information for the various court levels is as follows:
| Key: | |
| (Percentage of seats vacant.) | |
| 0% | 1%-9% |
| 10%-24% | 25%-40% |
| More than 40% | |
| Supreme Court | 0% or no vacancies |
| Appeals Courts | 9% or 16 vacancies |
| District Courts | 9.6% or 65 vacancies |
There are currently 9 Supreme Court posts, 179 appellate court posts and 680 district court posts for a total of 868 Article III judges. This count includes four temporary posts, one each in the Northern District of Alabama, District of Arizona, Southern District of Florida and the Central District of California. This also includes a shared post between the two Missouri districts and counts it as two posts with separate vacancies.
New confirmations
There were no new confirmations to the courts this past week. However, on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid began to move for cloture on seventeen of Obama's judicial appointees, with eleven coming from emergency districts. The call for cloture is an attempt to bypass Republican filibuster of candidates with a 3/5 majority in the Senate. The cloture will only end debates on voting. A merit must still occur, which could require up to 30 days of "debate" for each candidate, though this is not common. Reid commented on the call for cloture, telling the press, "The kind of qualified consensus nominees that in years past would have been confirmed in days or weeks now languish for months and months with no action. There are judges on this list that go back to November of last year. Not because we couldn't have done it. These could be confirmed in a matter of minutes. The votes should be routine. They shouldn't be a fight that delays action on important jobs measures. Creating jobs is the Senate's No. 1 priority. Republican obstructionism is the only thing standing in the way of moving forward with additional work to get our economy back on track. Unfortunately, Republicans have forced our hand. What else can we do?"[1] Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized the move, claiming "This is about giving the president what he wants when he wants it. And what the president wants is to distract the country from his failed policies that have led to soaring gas prices and high unemployment, and instead try to write a narrative of obstruction for his campaign. He doesn't care if he eviscerates the Senate's advice-and-consent responsibility to do so."[2]
New vacancies
There were no new vacancies to the courts in the past week.
New nominations
There were no new nominations to the federal judiciary this past week.
Pending vacancies
Due to the lack of activity this week at the federal level, we at Judgepedia would like to take a moment to highlight upcoming vacancies and vacated seats awaiting appointees.
Upcoming vacancies
In the next two month, the federal courts will face five planned vacancies including four transitions to senior status and one retirement. The vacancies include:
- David Folsom, March 17, 2012, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
- Saundra Armstrong, March 23, 2012, United States District Court for the Northern District of California
- Gregory Presnell, April 1, 2012, United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida
- Deborah Batts, April 13, 2012, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
- Joan Gottschall, April 23, 2012, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Seats pending appointments
In addition, there are a number of court vacancies where seats have opened up but no appointments have been made to fill the seat. This includes seats where the appointment was rejected by the Senate but have not had an alternative nomination made. These seats are open for a variety of reasons including the recentness of the opening, Senate opposition to candidates and the presidents decision not to appoint candidates. Districts with vacant seat lacking appointments include (Dates represent the date the seat opened up):
See also
Footnotes
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