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Status of Bankruptcy Judgeships — Judicial Business 2020

As of September 30, 2020, a total of 345 bankruptcy judgeships were authorized and funded, two fewer than a year earlier. In 2020, one temporary judgeship lapsed in the Western District of Tennessee, and another lapsed in the Central District of California. Of these judgeships, 307 were filled and 38 were vacant (compared with 316 filled positions and 31 vacant positions on the same date in 2019). In addition to judges in authorized positions, 27 retired bankruptcy judges who had been recalled by various circuit councils were providing service to the Judiciary at the end of September 2020.

For information on the status of bankruptcy judgeships since 2016, see Table 12.

Table 12
Status of Bankruptcy Judgeship Positions
September 30, 2016 - 2020
Year Authorized Judgeships Vacancies Recalled Judges
2016 349 17 33
2017 349 22 26
2018 3501 29 29
2019 347 31 28
2020 3452 38 27

1 For 2018, Congress authorized four new temporary bankruptcy judgeships: two in the District of Delaware and one each in the Middle District of Florida and the Eastern District of Michigan (see Bankruptcy Judgeships Act of 2017, Pub. L. No. 115-72, § 1003). Also, in 2018 two temporary bankruptcy judgeships in the Central District of California and one temporary bankruptcy judgeship in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania lapsed.

2 In 2020, one temporary judgeship lapsed in the Western District of Tennessee, and another lapsed in the Central District of California.