The Judiciary at Noon, #34: August 2 to 8, 2024

Keep up-to-date on the US federal judiciary, August 2 to 8, 2024.

August 9, 2024

3–5 minutes

Image courtesy of Sora Shimazaki/Pexels

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 at the very end. All information spans the previous week.

Confirmations

No new judges were confirmed in the week spanning August 2 to 8, 2024.

Vacancies

No new vacancies occurred in the week spanning August 2 to 8, 2024.

70 vacancies remain on the federal judiciary, a number unchanged from a week ago.

Retirements, Deaths, and Resignations

No federal judges retired, died, or resigned in the week of August 2 to 8, 2024.

Other

Judges seated

Aug. 2, 2024: Georgia Nick Alexakis assumed her duties as a judge of the Northern District of Illinois.
Aug. 7, 2024: Kashi Way assumed his duties as a judge of the United States Tax Court.
Aug. 8, 2024: Adam B. Landy officially assumed his duties as a judge of the United States Tax Court.
Aug. 8, 2024: Robin Michelle Meriweather assumed her duties as a judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims.

Analysis

The Senate was on break all of last week, and will be until September 9th.

There was technically another vacancy announced this week, when the Middle District of North Carolina confirmed that Loretta Copeland Biggs will take senior status by the end of the year in a Bloomberg Law article. But since Biggs’ vacancy is not yet listed on US Courts website, I have decided not to include it.

In other political news, VP Kamala Harris announced her VP pick as she runs for President, Minnesota governor Tim Walz. There is significant energy and excitement surrounding her campaign, and it is widely acknowledged that 2024 has become a much more competitive election.

Where do I anticipate change happening on the federal courts? Well, this depends largely on which President is elected, a Democrat or Republican, as judges tend to retire or take senior status when a President of their ideology takes office. But we have some clues.

There will definitely be no movement on the First Circuit. President Biden has appointed four out of the six judges on the court, and there may be a fifth on the way. None of the judges will even be eligible for senior status after eight years, as they are all in their late 40’s or early 50’s.

The Fourth Circuit will likely see great change no matter who is elected. Of the 15 active judges on the court, five are eligible for senior status, all of whom are in their 70’s or 80’s, and two more judges will become eligible by the end of the next President’s term.

The Ninth Circuit is another candidate for change. Six of the gargantuan court’s 29 judges are already senior-status-eligible, with another two becoming eligible by the end of the next President’s term.

The Federal Circuit could probably see the most change. Of the 12 judges on the court, five can already take senior status and that number will climb to six before the end of 2025, meaning half the court could be replaced in the next President’s first term. The next President will likely reshape the Federal Circuit for the foreseeable future.

The balance of some other courts depends on which party takes office in 2025. If Trump wins another term, we will likely see more retirements from the Republican-dominated Fifth and Eighth Circuits. However, should Harris win, we will likely witness some Obama appointees retire from the Tenth Circuit, and the last Clinton appointees scattered across the country that are still active will likely retire.

Oh! And of course, there is the Supreme Court, the most powerful court in the land. Should Trump win, it is widely believed that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito will retire. Should Harris win, they may stay on, but judging by Thomas’ private remarks regarding his dissatisfaction with his financial status on the Supreme Court, perhaps he may still choose to retire, causing the Court to lurch strongly to the left.

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.

One response to “The Judiciary at Noon, #34: August 2 to 8, 2024”

Anonymous

August 9, 2024 at 4:42 pm

Although my opinion is to wait, fix undone business for the rest of the year, where is still much to do, and not to speculate too much: I have surely also checked all court levels and possible chances for the one and the other side.

There are different scenarios, if Trump would win and gain the senate majority, if Harris would win and keep the senate majority, of both of them has no senate majority, while it’s unlikely that if Trump would win, he won’t flip the senate, too. And how much seats both parties will have in the new senate. And after the election, if a peaceful aftermath is guaranteed. No doubt, that Trump won’t be a fair looser this time, and in four years he’s 82 years old and not sure, if he won’t try it again.

But back to the judiciary and leaving all that aside: On the paper you are right, but most of the old eligible judges have already been eligible to leave for some years or even decades, and they haven’t done it under a president of the party they have been appointed. So it’s not necessary they will do it now, some of them see the lifetime appointment as what it literally means. Especially those who are very long eligible for retirement are more likely to stay until health is declining or even death. But their high ages alone makes them an interesting prospect, though it’s highly dubious, except Michael Kanne from the Seventh Circuit, all of those who more than eighty years old are still alive and serving, I count just four, who went senior, Ilana Rovner (Seventh Circuit), James Dennis (Fifth Circuit), José Cabrenas and Rosemary Pooler (both Second Circuit), the last one has meanwhile died. Out of this perspective alone, the Fourth Circuit and the Federal Circuit are those who are very likely for a major turnover in the next presidential term.

I see few or no changes at the First, Second, Third and Eleventh Circuit and few on the Seventh and DC Circuit, but at the rest movement in both directions is possible. SCOTUS is surely an own chapter. I don’t see necessarily leaving Ailito and Thomas even under Trump. The senate is critical, and both sides fear that they can’t get a majority back within this decade. So even if Harris will win without a senate majority, we will likely see just a dozen district court appointments per year.

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