Welcome to the Dec. 9 edition of Robe & Gavel, Ballotpedia’s newsletter about the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) and other judicial happenings around the U.S.

This is it, dear reader. The last newsletter of the year. To quote Shakespeare, “Our revels now are ended.” Thank you for sticking with us through this year of federal court updates. 

From all of us at Ballotpedia, we wish you the very best this holiday season. And to quote Shakespeare again, probably, see you next year. 

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Grants

SCOTUS accepted two new cases to its merits docket since our Dec. 2 issue. To date, the court has agreed to hear 49 cases for the 2024-2025 term. 

• Rivers v. Lumpkin
• Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization (consolidated with United States v. Palestine Liberation Organization)

Arguments

The Supreme Court will hear five arguments this week. Click here to read more about SCOTUS’ current term.

Click the links below to learn more about these cases:

Dec. 9

• Kousisis v. United States concerns the fraudulent inducement theory of mail and wire fraud.
  • The questions presented: “1) Whether deception to induce a commercial exchange can constitute mail or wire fraud, even if inflicting economic harm on the alleged victim was not the object of the scheme. 
    
    2) Whether a sovereign’s statutory, regulatory, or policy interest is a property interest when compliance is a material term of payment for goods or services. 
    
    3) Whether all contract rights are ‘property.’”
• Feliciano v. Department of Transportation concerns the differential pay statute,5 U.S.C. § 5538, which requires civilian federal employees who are also armed forces reservists be paid at their higher civilian salary than their lower military salary during their deployment.
  • The questions presented: “Whether a federal civilian employee called or ordered to active duty under a provision of law during a national emergency is entitled to differential pay even if the duty is not directly connected to the national emergency.”

Dec. 10

• Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado concerns the National Environmental Policy Act.
  • The questions presented: “Whether the National Environmental Policy Act requires an agency to study environmental impacts beyond the proximate effects of the action over which the agency has regulatory authority.”

Dec. 11

• Dewberry Group, Inc. v. Dewberry Engineers, Inc. concerns disgorgement under the Lanham Act in a federal trademark dispute between two companies using the same surname. Disgorgement requires a party who profits from illegal acts to give up any profits through that act.
  • The questions presented: “Whether an award of the ‘defendant’s profits’ under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1117 (a), can include an order for the defendant to disgorge the distinct profits of legally separate non-party corporate affiliates.”

In its October 2023-2024 term, SCOTUS heard arguments in 62 cases. Click here to read more about SCOTUS’ previous term.

Opinions

SCOTUS has not ruled on any cases since our Dec. 2 edition. 

Upcoming SCOTUS dates

Here are the court’s upcoming dates of interest:

• Dec. 9: SCOTUS will hear arguments in two cases.
• Dec. 10: SCOTUS will hear arguments in one case.
• Dec. 11: SCOTUS will hear arguments in one case.
• Dec. 13: SCOTUS will conference. A conference is a private meeting of the justices.

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 Nov. 2 to Dec. 2. 

Highlights

• Vacancies: There have been three new judicial vacancies since the Nov. 1, 2024, report. There are 42 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, 42 of 890 active federal judicial positions are vacant.  
• Nominations: There was one new nomination since the November 2024 report. 
• Confirmations: There were eight new confirmations since the November 2024 report.

Vacancy count for Dec. 1, 2024

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

Three 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 Timothy Corrigan assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
• Judge Lee Rosenthal assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
• Judge Frank Whitney assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

The following chart tracks the number of vacancies in the U.S. 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 number of vacancies in the U.S. District Courts as of Dec. 1.

New nominations

President Biden announced one new nomination since the Nov. 1 report:

• Tali Farhadian Weinstein, to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The president has announced 252 Article III judicial nominations since taking office on Jan. 20, 2021. For more information on the president’s judicial nominees, click here.

New confirmations

As of Dec. 1, the Senate has confirmed eight of President Biden’s judicial nominees—173 district court judges and 45 appeals court judges—since January 2021.

• Sharad Desai, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona
• Rebecca Pennell, to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington
• Amir Ali, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
• Sarah Russell, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut
• Mustafa Kasubhai, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon
• Embry Kidd, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• Jonathan E. Hawley, to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois
• April Perry, to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Eight nominees were confirmed after Dec. 1:

• Anne Hwang, to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California 
• Brian Murphy, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts 
• Sparkle Sooknanan, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia 
• Gail Weilheimer, to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania 
• Catherine Henry, to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania 
• Elizabeth Coombe, to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York
• Anthony Brindisi, to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York 
• Sarah Davenport, to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico

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

• Presidents have made an average of 196 judicial appointments through Dec. 1 of their fourth year in office.
• President Donald Trump (R) made the most appointments through Dec. 1 of his fourth year with 227. President Barack Obama (D) made the fewest with 160.
• President Donald Trump (R) made the most appointments through four years with 234. President Ronald Reagan (R) made the fewest through four years with 153.
• 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.

Looking ahead

We’ll be back on Jan. 13 with a new edition of Robe & Gavel. Until then, gaveling out! 

Contributions

Myj Saintyl compiled and edited this newsletter, with contributions from Sam Post and Ellie Mikus.