The Enlightenment

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Welcome to The Judiciary at Noon! Take a break from work to get an update on the oft-neglected third branch of the United States government, the judicial branch.

The series covers any updates to the federal judiciary, including any new judges confirmed, any deaths, resignations, or retirements from the courts, and any new vacancies that have occurred. It includes political analysis and fun information about the United States judiciary at the very end. All information spans the previous week.

Confirmations

• March 12, 2024: Jasmine Hyejung Yoon was confirmed to the Western District of Virginia, covering cities like Roanoke and Charlottesville.
• March 12, 2024: Sunil Harjani was confirmed to the Northern District of Illinois, centered around Chicago.
• March 12, 2024: Melissa R. DuBose was confirmed to the District of Rhode Island.

Yoon and Harjani were appointed to comfortably liberal courts. When DuBose assumes her judgeship on January 1, 2025 (when Republican-appointed William E. Smith takes senior status), the District of Rhode Island will flip Democrat. 3 out of 5 judges will be appointed by Democrats.

Vacancies

No new vacancies occurred for the week of March 8 to 14, 2024. 79 vacancies remain on the federal judiciary, down from 82 a week ago.

Retirements, Deaths, and Resignations

No retirements, deaths, or resignations occurred on the federal judiciary for the week of March 1 to 7, 2024.

Other

March 11, 2024: Steven Michael Colloton became the Chief Judge of the 8th Circuit, with jurisdiction over the states of North and South Dakota, Nebraksa, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas.

March 15, 2024: The Senate Judiciary Committee cancelled its executive business meeting to vote to advance nominees to the Senate.

Analysis

The Senate is firing on all cylinders. My previous predictions appear to be incorrect. It appears Senate Democrats are moving to rapidly nominate judges.

As I indicated last week, the Senate and the Senate Judiciary Committee is running out of nominees to send to the Senate. The time for the Biden administration to announce new appointees is now!

Should Democrats continue a pace of 3 judges appointed per week, all current vacancies will be filled by early October.

The success that can be attributed to Senate Democrats is in part due to the fact that it has been six continuous weeks without new vacancies. I worry an unintended consequence of all these confirmations may encourage eligible judges to take senior status right before the election.

BONUS: The changing size of the Supreme Court

In recent years, debates have surfaced regarding whether the Supreme Court should be expanded. Turns out that similar arguments have played out before.

When the Supreme Court was first established in 1789, it had 6 justices, not the nine that it has today. Afterwards, the number of justices was changed in:

• 1807 to seven, so that Thomas Jefferson could appoint another justice;
• 1837 to nine, so that Andrew Jackson could appoint two justices;
• 1863 to ten, to give Abraham Lincoln a majority;
• 1866 to seven, to prevent Andrew Johnson from appointing justices;
• 1869 to today’s nine.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, frustrated that the Supreme Court was striking down his New Deal agenda, announced a plan to expand the Court; his plan failed, and shortly thereafter the Supreme Court became much more amicable towards Roosevelt’s agenda.

SIGN-OFF

That’s it for this week’s The Judiciary at Noon. This has been Anthony Myrlados. I’ll see you next noon and until then I wish you all an enjoyable weekend!