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

Confirmations

No judges were confirmed for the week spanning January 24 to January 30, 2025.

Vacancies

Federal Judiciary

• Jan. 29, 2025: Chief Judge Eric Franklin Melgren of the District of Kansas announced he would be taking senior status on September 1, 2025, opening up a vacancy on the court.

District of Columbia Judiciary

• Jan. 24, 2025: Judge Alfred Sherwood Irving Jr. of the District of Columbia Superior Court assumed senior status, opening up a vacancy on the court.

53 vacancies remain on the federal judiciary, an increase from 52 from a week ago.

Retirements, Deaths, and Resignations

No judges died, retired, or resigned for the week spanning January 24 to January 30, 2025.

Analysis

The Senate is in its fourth week of considering President Trump’s cabinet appointees. So far, most have been confirmed with little issue. Pete Hegseth, the controversial nominee to be Secretary of Defense, received a tie vote in the Senate, but Vice President Vance broke the tie in Hegseth’s favor.

Nevertheless, reports are emerging that the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tapped to head the Department of Health and Human services, is in jeopardy following rocky hearings before the Senate Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committees.

While attention is focused on cabinet appointees, I have been watching very closely if Trump has made any earlier-than-expected judicial appointments. Trump is a wildcard, and he has made reshaping the judiciary a key aspect of his first presidency, so I would not rule out an earlier wave of appointments than expected.

Then again, even if there were such appointments, Trump would have relatively few judgeships to fill. We have seen a number of new vacancies following the inauguration of President Trump. However, compared to the first few weeks following former President Biden’s inauguration, it is a trickle.

Data from the Internet Archive has shown that within a week of Biden’s inauguration, four vacancies opened up. Within two weeks, that number grew to eleven. A month after Biden’s inauguration, thirteen new vacancies emerged.

A week and a half after Trump’s inauguration, just five vacancies have emerged. If we count those which have occurred since Trump was elected that had not been known in advance, the number becomes seven—far smaller than the number of vacancies when Biden assumed office.

Finally, I am so disappointed to see that the US Courts website still does not mention the vacancies caused by Judge Valerie Caproni of the Southern District of New York going senior on January 7th, 2025 and the death of Jeffrey Meyer of the District of Connecticut on January 13, 2025. I expect better from our government judicial reporting agency.

SIGN-OFF

That’s it for this week’s The Judiciary at Noon. This has been Anthony Myrlados.