The next president is poised to inherit the fewest judicial vacancies in generations
The next president is on track to enter office with the fewest number of vacant federal judgeships to fill in more than three decades, the culmination of both parties diverging sharply on what types of judges they want to appoint and putting a high priority on confirming their preferred judges while in charge.
WASHINGTON — The next president is on track to enter office with the fewest number of vacant federal judgeships to fill in more than three decades, the culmination of both parties diverging sharply on what types of judges they want to appoint and putting a high priority on confirming their preferred judges while in charge.
The election is just over a month away and early voters have already started casting ballots for either Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris. However, of the myriad of issues that have dominated this election cycle and motivated voters, appointing judges hasn’t received the same level of attention as in years past.
In 2016, a vacant Supreme Court seat placed the issue of judicial appointments front and center. In 2020, the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the last-minute confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett again highlighted the role the president has in shaping the federal judiciary. But without the spotlight of a Supreme Court vacancy, the focus in the final weeks of the 2024 election has been aimed at the economy and other issues.
It’s not just the Supreme Court that lacks vacancies. Out of the 870 Article IIl judgeships authorized by Congress, only 43 seats, or 4.9 percent, are currently vacant. In late September, the Senate confirmed Joe Biden’s 213th judicial nominee before leaving town.
Assuming the Senate continues confirming pending nominees when it returns in November, the next president is poised to inherit the smallest number of judicial vacancies since when George H.W. Bush ascended to the Oval Office in 1989. There were 46 vacancies when Biden took office — which itself was a new low since 1989.
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