http://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/judicial-vacancies/current-judicial-vacancies (Current vacancies)
http://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/judicial-vacancies/future-judicial-vacancies (Future vacancies)
(Note: The first link indicates 150 vacancies, but includes the 7 Article Court of Federal Claims vacancies. I am only concerned with Article III vacancies, which is currently 143.)
Article III vacancies are currently 143 and will reach 146 on July 1.
As of July 1:
Supreme Court: 0 of 9 vacant
Court of Appeals: 15 of 179 vacant
District Courts: 129 of 673 vacant
Trade Court: 2 of 9 vacant
11 additional vacancies will occur prior to Labor Day:
Supreme Court: 1 vacancy (July 31, 2018)
Court of Appeals: 3 vacancies
District Courts: 7 vacancies
Trade Court: 0 vacancies
Senator McConnell has cancelled most of the August recess to try to push through more Judges. The overwhelming urgency to have Kennedy’s replacement confirmed prior to September 24, 2018 will limit to some extent the number of Article III judges confirmed during the upcoming period.
Even with the cancelled August recess, I fear very little progress will be made on putting a dent in judicial vacancies. 11 confirmations are needed to just keep pace. If Republicans are lucky, they can whittle vacancies down to the high 120 range by the end of September. After that, electioneering will likely prevent any more confirmations until the lame duck session.
