Status of Article III Judgeships — Judicial Business 2023
On September 30, 2023, a total of 7 vacancies existed among the 179 judgeships authorized for the U.S. courts of appeals. One year earlier, the courts of appeals had eight vacancies.
On September 30, 2023, a total of 60 vacancies existed among the 677 positions authorized in the U.S. district courts, 12 fewer than reported at the end of 2022. Six of the vacancies had existed for more than 18 months, 15 fewer than one year earlier. Most of the vacancies arose when judges took senior status.
Seventeen judicial emergencies were identified for Article III judgeships on September 30, 2023 – seven fewer than one year earlier. For the courts of appeals, a judicial emergency is defined as any vacancy where adjusted filings (i.e., filings excluding reinstated cases and counting pro se appeals as one-third of a case) per panel exceed 700, or any vacancy in existence more than 18 months where adjusted filings are between 500 and 700 per panel. Two appellate courts had judicial emergencies at the end of the fiscal year. For the district courts, a judicial emergency is defined as a vacancy of any duration where weighted filings per authorized judgeship exceed 600, or any vacancy longer than 18 months in a district court with weighted filings between 430 and 600 per authorized judgeship, or any vacancy in a district court with more than 1 authorized judgeship and only 1 active judge. Sixteen district courts had judicial emergencies at the end of the fiscal year.
In addition to active judges, 110 senior circuit judges were serving the appellate and federal circuit courts at the end of the fiscal year. The U.S. district courts reported 404 senior judges on that date.
For information on the status of judgeship positions since 2019, see Table 10.