Ballotpedia releases federal judicial vacancy count for July 2020

In this month’s federal judicial vacancy count, Ballotpedia tracked nominations, confirmations, and vacancies to all United States Article III federal courts from July 2, 2020, to August 3, 2020. Ballotpedia publishes the federal judicial vacancy count at the start of each month.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Vacancies: There have been two new judicial vacancies since the June 2020 report. There are 73 vacancies out of 870 active Article III judicial positions on courts covered in this report. Including the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the United States territorial courts, 79 of 890 active federal judicial positions are vacant.

• Nominations: There have been no new nominations since the June 2020 report.

• Confirmations: There have been two new confirmations since the June 2020 report.

New vacancies

There were 73 vacancies out of 870 active Article III judicial positions, a total vacancy percentage of 8.4.

• The nine-member U.S. Supreme Court does not have any vacancies.

• None of the 179 U.S. Appeals Court positions are vacant.

• 71 (10.5%) of the 677 U.S. District Court positions are vacant.

• Two (22.2%) of the nine U.S. Court of International Trade positions are vacant.

A vacancy occurs when a judge resigns, retires, takes senior status, or passes away. Article III judges, who serve on courts authorized by Article III of the U.S. Constitution, are appointed for life terms.

Two judges left active status, creating Article III life-term judicial vacancies, since the previous vacancy count. 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.

1. Judge Virginia Covington assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

2. Judge Federico Moreno assumed senior status on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

U.S. Court of Appeals vacancies

The following chart tracks the number of vacancies on the United States Court of Appeals from the inauguration of President Donald Trump (R) to the date indicated on the chart.

The following maps show the number of vacancies on the United States Court of Appeals at Trump’s inauguration and as of August 1, 2020.

New nominations

Trump has not announced any new nominations since the June 2020 report. Since taking office in January 2017, Trump has nominated 262 individuals to Article III positions.

New confirmations

Since July 2, 2020, the United States Senate has confirmed two of Trump’s nominees to Article III seats.

• David Joseph, confirmed to the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

• Scott Hardy, confirmed to the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

As of August 3, 2020, the Senate has confirmed 202 of Trump’s judicial nominees—145 district court judges, 53 appeals court judges, two Court of International Trade judges, and two Supreme Court justices—since January 2017.

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