Status of Article III Judgeships — Judicial Business 2025

On September 30, 2025, a total of 3 vacancies existed among the 179 judgeships authorized for the U.S. courts of appeals. One year earlier, the appeals courts had one vacancy.

On September 30, 2025, a total of 48 vacancies existed among the 677 positions authorized in the U.S. district courts, 6 more than reported one year earlier. Nineteen of the vacancies had existed for more than 18 months, 4 more than one year earlier. Most of the vacancies arose when judges took senior status.

Nineteen judicial emergencies were identified for Article III judgeships on September 30, 2025, one fewer than one year earlier. For the courts of appeals, a judicial emergency is defined as any vacancy where adjusted filings (i.e., filings excluding reinstated cases and counting pro se appeals as one-third of a case) per panel exceed 700, or any vacancy in existence more than 18 months where adjusted filings are between 500 and 700 per panel. For the district courts, a judicial emergency is defined as a vacancy of any duration where weighted filings per authorized judgeship exceed 600, or any vacancy longer than 18 months in a court with weighted filings between 430 and 600 per authorized judgeship, or any vacancy in a court with more than 1 authorized judgeship and only 1 active judge. No appellate courts had judicial emergencies at the end of the fiscal year, so all 19 judicial emergencies on that date existed in district courts.

In addition to active judges, 113 senior circuit judges were serving the appellate courts at the end of the fiscal year. The U.S. district courts reported 468 senior judges on that date.

For information on the status of judgeship positions since 2021, see Table 10.