Confirmations
The Senate has confirmed two new nominees since our October 12 issue.
Since January 2017, the Senate has confirmed 220 of President Trump’s judicial nominees—162 district court judges, 53 appeals court judges, two Court of International Trade judges, and three Supreme Court justices.
Amy Coney Barrett confirmation
On October 26, the U.S. Senate voted 52-48 to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. The vote was mostly along party lines, with Sen. Susan Collins of Maine as the only Republican to vote with Democrats against Barrett’s confirmation.
President Trump nominated Barrett on September 29 to succeed Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on September 18 at the age of 87.
Barrett earned her bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, in English literature from Rhodes College in 1994 and her J.D., summa cum laude, from Notre Dame Law School in 1997. She was awarded the law school's Hoynes Prize, which is the law school's highest honor. Barrett was executive editor of the Notre Dame Law Review.
Barrett was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit from 2017 to 2020. From 2002 to 2017, she was a professor of law at Notre Dame Law School. She previously worked in private practice and as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (1998-1999) and to Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (1997-1998).
Barrett has explained her judicial philosophy as originalist—interpreting the U.S. Constitution according to what the words meant to the individuals who wrote it—and textualist—interpreting a law based on the words on the page, not what Congress may have intended to do when the law was passed.
Nominations
President Trump has announced two new Article III nominees since our October 12 edition.
The president has announced 273 Article III judicial nominations since taking office January 20, 2017. The president named 69 judicial nominees in 2017, 92 in 2018, and 77 in 2019. For more information on the president’s judicial nominees, click here.
Vacancies
The federal judiciary currently has 66 vacancies. As of publication, there were 41 pending nominations.
According to the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, an additional two judges have announced their intention to leave active judicial status during Trump’s first term.
For more information on judicial vacancies during Trump's first term, click here.
Committee action
The Senate Judiciary Committee has reported five new nominees out of committee since our October 12 edition.
Do you love judicial nomination, confirmation, and vacancy information? We figured you might. Our monthly Federal Vacancy Count, published at the start of each month, monitors all the faces and places moving in, moving out, and moving on in the federal judiciary. Click here for our most current count.
Need a daily fix of judicial nomination, confirmation, and vacancy information? Click here for continuing updates on the status of all federal judicial nominees.
Or, if you prefer, we also maintain a list of individuals President Trump has nominated.
|