Robe & Gavel: Federal Judicial Vacancy Count released…

Welcome to the July 10 edition of Robe & Gavel, Ballotpedia’s newsletter about the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) and other judicial happenings around the U.S.

SCOTUS has now issued all of the opinions for the October 2022 Term. Where has the time gone, dear reader? There’s so much to catch you up on, so let’s gavel on in!

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Grants

SCOTUS has accepted nine new cases to its merits docket since our June 12 issue. To date, the court has agreed to hear 21 cases for the 2023-2024 term. SCOTUS dismissed one case after it was accepted. All cases have yet to be scheduled for arguments.

Click the links below to learn more about these cases:

Department of Agriculture Rural Development Rural Housing Service v. Kirtz originated from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and concerns the United States’ sovereign immunity from lawsuits concerning the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Moore v. United States concerns the 16th Amendment and Congress’s authority to tax unrealized sums without apportionment among the states. The case originated from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Rudisill v. McDonough originated from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and concerns veterans’ education benefits under the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, Missouri concerns Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The case originated from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Wilkinson v. Garland concerns 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(D) and 1252(a)(2)(B)(i). The case originated from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Campos-Chaves v. Garland (consolidated with Garland v. Singh) concerns 8 U.S.C. § 1229(a). The case originated from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
McElrath v. Georgia concerns the Fifth Amendment. The case originated from the Georgia Supreme Court.
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy concerns the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Seventh Amendment. The case originated from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
United States v. Rahimi concerns 18 U.S.C. § 922 and the Second Amendment. The case originated from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Opinions

SCOTUS has ruled on 23 cases since our June 12 edition. The court issued rulings in 58 cases this term. There are no cases still awaiting rulings.

Click the links below to read more about the rulings since June 12:

June 15, 2023

June 16, 2023

June 22, 2023

June 23, 2023

June 27, 2023

June 29, 2023

June 30, 2023

The Federal Vacancy Count

The Federal Vacancy Count tracks vacancies, nominations, and confirmations to all United States Article III federal courts in a one-month period. This month’s edition includes nominations, confirmations, and vacancies from June 2, 2023, through July 1, 2023.

Highlights

Vacancies: There have been four new judicial vacancies since the June 2023 report. There are 71 vacancies out of 870 active Article III judicial positions on courts covered in this report. Including the United States Court of Federal Claims and the United States territorial courts, 72 of 890 active federal judicial positions are vacant.
Nominations: There were eight new nominations since the June 2023 report.
Confirmations: There were six new confirmations since the June 2023 report.

Vacancy count for July 1, 2023

A breakdown of the vacancies at each level can be found in the table below. For a more detailed look at the vacancies in the federal courts, click here.

*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

Four judges left active status since the previous vacancy count, creating Article III life-term judicial vacancies. The president nominates individuals to fill Article III judicial position vacancies. Nominations are subject to U.S. Senate confirmation.

Judge Jeffrey R. Howard assumed senior status on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
Judge John Ross assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
Judge Micaela Alvarez assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
Judge Joseph Greenaway retired from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

The following chart tracks the number of vacancies in the United States Courts of Appeals from President Joe Biden’s (D) inauguration to the date indicated on the chart.

U.S. District Court vacancies

The following map shows the percentage of vacancies in the United States District Courts as of July 1.

New nominations

President Biden announced eight new nominations since the June 12 report:

The president has announced 172 Article III judicial nominations since taking office on January 20, 2021. For more information on the president’s judicial nominees, click here.

New confirmations

As of July 1, the Senate has confirmed 136 of President Biden’s judicial nominees—100 district court judges, 35 appeals court judges, and one Supreme Court justice—since January 2021.

Comparison of Article III judicial appointments over time by president (1981-Present)

Presidents have made an average of 117.7 judicial appointments through July 1 of their third year in office.
President Bill Clinton (D) made the most appointments through July 1 of his third year with 154. President Barack Obama (D) made the fewest with 89.
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.

Need a daily fix of judicial nomination, confirmation, and vacancy information? Click here for continuing updates on the status of all federal judicial nominees.

Or, keep an eye on this list for updates on federal judicial nominations.

Correction: In our June 12 edition of Robe & Gavel, there was an error in our Grants section. We stated, “SCOTUS has accepted three new cases to its merits docket since our May 8 issue. To date, the court has agreed to hear 12 cases for the 2023-2024 term.”

SCOTUS had accepted four new cases to its merits docket since our May 8 issue. By June 12, the court had agreed to hear 13 cases for the 2023-2024 term. We regret the error.