The Federal Judicial Vacancy Count 7/1/2024
July 1, 2024
Welcome to the Federal Vacancy Count for July 1, 2024! The Federal Vacancy Count tracks vacancies, nominations, and confirmations to all United States Article III federal courts.
This month's edition covers activity from June 2, 2024, through July 1, 2024, and compares Article III judicial appointments over time by president and by court type.[1]
What's a vacancy?
A vacancy occurs when a judge resigns, retires, takes senior status, or dies. 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 July 1, 2024
The vacancy level was in June 2024. The total vacancy percentage was 5.3 percent, and there were 46 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
Two 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.
- Judge Robert Harwell assumed senior status on the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina.
- Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson assumed senior status on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana
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 Joe Biden (D) to July 1, 2024.
Maps
The following maps show the number of vacancies on the United States Court of Appeals at the inauguration of President Joe Biden (D) and as of July 1, 2024.
U.S. District Court vacancies
The following map shows the number of vacancies in the United States District Courts as of July 1, 2024.
New nominations
President Joe Biden (D) announced three new nominations since the previous report.
- Mary Kay Costello, to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- Laura Provinzino, to the U.S. District District Court for the District of Minnesota
- Noël Wise, to the U.S. District District Court for the Northern District of California
Since taking office in January 2021, Biden has nominated 241 individuals to Article III positions.
New confirmations
There have been no new confirmations since the previous report.
As of July 1, 2024, the Senate has confirmed 201 of President Biden's Article III judicial nominee s—156 district court judges, 42 appeals court judges, two international trade judges, and one Supreme Court justice—since his inauguration on January 20, 2021. To review a complete list of Biden's confirmed nominees, click here.
Comparison of Article III judicial appointments over time by president
- Presidents have made an average of 178.6 judicial appointments through July 1 of their fourth year in office.
- President Joe Biden (D) made the most appointments through July 1 of his fourth year with 201. President Ronald Reagan (R) made the fewest with 148.
- President Donald Trump (R) made the most appointments through four years with 234. President Ronald Reagan (R) made the fewest through four years with 166.
- President Ronald Reagan (R) made the most appointments through one year in office with 41. President Barack Obama (D) made the fewest with 13.
- President Bill Clinton (D) made the most appointments through two years with 128. President Barack Obama (D) made the fewest with 62.
Comparison of Article III judicial appointments over time by president and court type
The table and chart below show the number of Article III judges confirmed by the U.S. Senate under each of the last seven presidents as of July 1 of their fourth year in office. The confirmations are broken up by court type.
- The median number of Supreme Court appointees is two. Two presidents (Reagan, and Biden) made one appointment. Four presidents (H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump) made two. President George W. Bush did not appoint any SCOTUS justices by this point in his presidency.
- The median number of United States Court of Appeals appointees is 35. President Trump had the most appointees with 53. President Reagan appointed the fewest with 27.
- The median number of United States District Court appointees is 143. President George W. Bush had the most appointees with 161. President Reagan appointed the fewest with 117.
See also
- United States federal courts
- Current federal judicial vacancies
- Judicial vacancies during the Biden administration
- The Biden administration on federal courts
Footnotes
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