Federal Judiciary Reports 3.2% Vacancy Rate Across Article III Positions in November 2026
As of November 2026, the federal judiciary has a 3.2% vacancy rate across its 870 active Article III judicial positions, totaling 28 vacancies. This represents a slight increase of 0.1 percentage points from October 2026. All nine seats on the U.S. Supreme Court are filled, and there are no vacancies among the 179 U.S. Appeals Court positions. The majority of vacancies, 28 positions or 4.2%, are within the 673 U.S. District Court positions. The nine U.S. Court of International Trade positions also have no vacancies. Since the last report, one new judicial vacancy has occurred, which, as an Article III position, requires a presidential nomination and Senate confirmation. There have been no new nominations or confirmations since the previous report. Since January 2025, the Senate has confirmed 56 of President Trump’s Article III judicial nominees, including 45 district court judges, 10 appeals court judges, and one Court of International Trade judge.
