What percentage of federal judicial seats are currently vacant?
The number and percentage of authorized federal judgeships that are currently vacant across all Article III courts (district courts, circuit courts, and the Supreme Court), plus the number of judicial emergency designations by the Judicial Conference.
Formula
Vacancy Rate (%) = Vacant Seats ÷ Authorized Judgeships × 100Vacancies directly reduce court capacity, increase per-judge caseloads, contribute to backlogs, and prolong case resolution times. The Judicial Conference designates courts with high vacancies plus high caseloads as "judicial emergencies." Nomination and confirmation timelines are tracked as sub-metrics.
Example Visualization
Map of vacancy rates by circuit and district. Time series line of total vacancies. Nomination pipeline chart (nominated → confirmed → seated). Judicial emergency count.
Are federal courts keeping up with incoming caseloads, or is the backlog growing?
How long does a typical federal civil or criminal case take to resolve?
How many cases are pending in federal courts, and how long have they been waiting?