What’s in the Pipeline for Judicial Vacancies? – November 21 Update

As we noted in our earlier Client Alerts on November 4, 2011 and November 11, 2011, there are important changes underway behind the bench at the Federal Circuit and in several districts courts where significant numbers of patent infringement cases are pending. A number of long-serving judges are retiring or taking senior status, and new judges are being selected to fill those vacancies. The chart below summarizes the status of the vacancies. They are listed in order of the date that a replacement was nominated to fill the vacancy.

Confirmation of judicial nominees has been a very slow process in this Congress. However, in October 2011, a total of fifteen judicial nominees were confirmed, signaling a thawing in the previously glacial pace of judicial confirmations. In the first eight days of November, two more nominees on our watch list weure confirmed by the Senate. This trend has continued this week. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers was confirmed to fill a vacancy in the Northern District of California. Judge Rogers was approved by an 89 to 6 voice vote and fills the seat vacated by the retirement earlier this year of former Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker.

We will update this chart periodically as the nomination process moves forward for various nominees.

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