The federal judiciary has 28 vacant seats. Eleven have nominees waiting for Senate action. Seventeen have no nominee at all. Those are the latest figures from the U.S. Courts, updated November 9. (uscourts.gov)
That is not a bookkeeping problem. It is a failure of leadership.
The president has a constitutional duty to nominate qualified judges. The Senate has a duty to consider those nominees. When the White House leaves seats without nominees and the Senate lets nominations stall, the public pays the price: cases take longer, judges shoulder heavier caseloads, and access to justice becomes more dependent on how long people can afford to wait.
Fifteen vacancies have been designated judicial emergencies because of the caseload and the length or number of vacancies. Every one of those seats represents a court system under strain. (uscourts.gov)
New York’s Southern District has three open seats, and no nominees are listed for any of them. Two vacancies have been classified as judicial emergencies. One has been open since December 2024; another since January 2025. For a district that handles some of the country’s most consequential cases, this prolonged inaction is indefensible. (uscourts.gov)
Washington should stop treating judicial appointments as political trophies to be hoarded, delayed, or traded. Courts are not campaign props. The people who bring cases before them should not have to wait while elected officials play games with vacancies.
The numbers make the responsibility plain. The president should put forward nominees for the 17 seats still without one. The Senate should promptly hold hearings and votes on the 11 nominees already pending. If a nominee is unqualified, make that case in public. If not, do the job.
Twenty-eight vacancies may sound manageable from the Capitol. It is a different story for litigants waiting for their day in court and judges trying to keep overloaded dockets moving. A justice system cannot command public confidence when Washington leaves its courts short-handed and calls the delay business as usual.
