Through Oct. 1, 2022, there were 890 authorized federal judicial posts and 85 vacancies. Eighty-three of those were for Article III judgeships. This report is limited to Article III courts, where appointees are confirmed to lifetime judgeships. In the past month:
- Eight judges have been confirmed
- Nine judges have been nominated.
By Oct. 1, 620 days in office, President Joe Biden (D) had nominated 141 judges to Article III judgeships. For historical comparison:
- President Donald Trump (R) had nominated 162 individuals, 86 of whom were ultimately confirmed to their positions.
- President Barack Obama (D) had nominated 99 individuals, 65 of whom were confirmed.
- President George W. Bush (R) had nominated 167 individuals, 100 of whom were confirmed.
*Note: These figures include unsuccessful nominations.
The following data visualizations track the number of Article III judicial nominations by president by days in office during the Biden, Trump, Obama, and W. Bush administrations (2001-present).
The first tracker is limited to successful nominations, where the nominee was ultimately confirmed to their respective court:
The second tracker counts all Article III nominations, including unsuccessful nominations (for example, the nomination was withdrawn or the U.S. Senate did not vote on the nomination), renominations of individuals to the same court, and recess appointments. A recess appointment is when the president appoints a federal official while the Senate is in recess.
The data contained in these charts is compiled by Ballotpedia staff from publicly available information provided by the Federal Judicial Center. The comparison by days shown between the presidents is not reflective of the larger states of the federal judiciary during their respective administrations and is intended solely to track nominations by president by day.
Additional reading:
https://ballotpedia.org/Judicial_vacancies_in_federal_courts
https://ballotpedia.org/Federal_judges_nominated_by_Joe_Biden
https://ballotpedia.org/The_Federal_Judicial_Vacancy_Count_10/1/2022
Learn More
