There were 59 vacancies in the 890 authorized federal judicial posts as of January 31, 2024. Fifty-eight of those were for Article III judgeships. This report is limited to Article III courts, where appointees are confirmed to lifetime judgeships. From December 14, 2023, to January 31, 2024:
- Nine judges have been confirmed.
- Six judges have been nominated.
By January 31, 2024—1,107 days in office—President Joe Biden (D) had nominated 204 judges to Article III judgeships. For historical comparison*:
- President Donald Trump (R) had nominated 405 individuals, 204 of whom were ultimately confirmed to their positions.
- President Barack Obama (D) had nominated 230 individuals, 168 of whom were confirmed.
- President George W. Bush (R) had nominated 290 individuals, 197 of whom were confirmed.
*Note: These figures include unsuccessful nominations.
The following data visualizations track the number of Article III judicial nominations by president by days in office during the Biden, Trump, Obama, and W. Bush administrations (2001-present).
The first tracker is limited to successful nominations, where the nominee was ultimately confirmed to their respective court:
The second tracker counts all Article III nominations, including unsuccessful nominations (for example, the nomination was withdrawn or the U.S. Senate did not vote on the nomination), renominations of individuals to the same court, and recess appointments. A recess appointment is when the president appoints a federal official while the Senate is in recess.
The data contained in these charts is compiled by Ballotpedia staff from publicly available information provided by the Federal Judicial Center. The comparison by days shown between the presidents is not reflective of the larger states of the federal judiciary during their respective administrations and is intended solely to track nominations by president by day.
Correction: In our October through December updates, there were errors in our nomination calculations for President Joe Biden. We regret the errors.
Additional reading:
Current federal judicial vacancies
Judicial vacancies in federal courts
