The 2nd Circiut Court of Appeals will soon have 4 Vacancies

[usregimechange]

The 2nd Circuit will soon be tied with the 4th Circuit for the highest number of vacancies. 2nd Circuit Judge Calabresi took senior status today and Judge Sack will take senior status on 08/06/2009. Sotomayor's seat will need to be filled and there was one previous vacancy for which President Obama nominated District Judge Gerard E. Lynch (58yo) on 04/02/2009. Judge Lynch is yet to be confirmed by the Senate.

=4 vacancies.

All the vacancies come from the Liberal bloc of the court so the court's ideological composition will not likely change but the age of the more liberal judges likely will - they will be getting much younger.

An updated look at the composition of the court:


Current court (with soon to be elevated/senior status judges in bold):
Chief Judge Dennis G. Jacobs New York, NY 1944 1992–present 2006–present — G.H.W. Bush
Circuit Judge José A. Cabranes New Haven, CT 1940 1994–present — — Clinton
Circuit Judge Rosemary S. Pooler Syracuse, NY 1938 1998–present — — Clinton
Circuit Judge Robert D. Sack New York, NY 1939 1998–present — — Clinton
Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor New York, NY 1954 1998–present — — Clinton
Circuit Judge Robert Katzmann New York, NY 1953 1999–present — — Clinton
Circuit Judge Barrington Daniels Parker, Jr. New York, NY 1944 2001–present — — G.W. Bush
Circuit Judge Reena Raggi Brooklyn, NY 1951 2002–present — — G.W. Bush
Circuit Judge Richard C. Wesley Geneseo, NY 1949 2003–present — — G.W. Bush
Circuit Judge Peter W. Hall Rutland, VT 1948 2004–present — — G.W. Bush
Circuit Judge Debra Ann Livingston New York, NY 1959 2007–present — — G.W. Bush
Circuit Judge (vacant - seat 8) (n/a) (n/a) (n/a) (n/a) (n/a) (n/a)
Circuit Judge (vacant - seat 3) (n/a) (n/a) (n/a) (n/a) (n/a) (n/a)

Bush appointee Judge Barrington Daniels Parker, Jr. will also be able to take senior status on 10/10/2009 making a 5th seat for Obama to fill. It is clear that the 2nd Circuit is 2nd only to the 4h Circuit in terms of how quickly it will be changing. See my recent post about the 4th Circuit here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6026834

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. Time for some righties to retire also

[usregimechange]

2. Oops, the graph includes % not the number of judges...

It is 6 R nominated judges, 3 D nominated judges and 4 vacancies.

[DarthDem]

3. Thanks

I'm sure some judicial buff in the West Wing pointed out that this was yet another benefit of the Sotomayor nomination - - getting to appoint a young circuit judge to fill her Second Circuit seat. I don't consider Jacobs much of an ideologue, and even a couple of the Dumbya appointees aren't too bad compared to some of the stiffs he put on various other circuit courts, so this court will be easy to turn around. The Dummy administration never understood and/or tended the circuits adequately (the Fourth Circuit is the clearest illustration of that), and even here, they blundered, with all of their appointees except Livingston a bit too close to senior eligibility when they were appointed. If Parker takes senior status (and Jacobs eventually as well), we're in great shape here.