User:NoSeptember/Federal judge appointment history

future improvements[edit]

Chart for each circuit
Summary chart of circuit judges nationwide
Add percentages (% GOP, % Dem)
List circuits in order of political composition, highest % GOP to highest % Democratic
List of circuit judges confirmed with the most votes against them (by term)

Updated Introduction[edit]

The selection of federal judges has become viewed as a political process in the last several decades. This is especially true of Supreme Court and United States court of appeals appointments. These charts show the composition of the supreme and circuit courts at the end of each four year Presidential term, categorizing the judges by the Presidential term during which they were nominated for their seat. Courts with a higher percentage of Republican appointed judges tend to be more conservative than those with many Democratic appointees, although the party of the President who appointed a judge is not always a good indicator of that judge's judicial philosophy and place on the political spectrum.

Introduction[edit]

The selection of federal judges has become viewed as a political process in the last several decades. This is especially true of Supreme Court and United States court of appeals appointments. These charts show the composition of the supreme and circuit courts at the end of each four year Presidential term, categorizing the judges by the Presidential term during which they were nominated for their seat. Courts with a higher percentage of Republican appointed judges tend to be more conservative than those with many Democratic appointees, although the party of the President who appointed a judge is not always a good indicator of that judge's judicial philosophy and place on the political spectrum.

The appointment of federal judges has become viewed as a political process in the last several decades. This is especially true of U.S. Supreme Court and court of appeals appointments. These charts show the composition of the Supreme and circuit courts at the end of each four year Presidential term, categorizing the judges by the Presidential term during which they were nominated for their seat.

Most federal courts currently have a majority of Republican President appointees. Courts with a higher percentage of Republican appointed judges tend to be more conservative than those with many Democratic appointees, although the party of the President who appointed a judge is not always a good indicator of that judge's judicial philosophy and place on the political spectrum.

* as of July 21, 2005

Supreme Court[edit]

Year	Total	Appointed by Republicans	Appointed by Democrats	Vacant	GWB 2	GWB 1	WJC 2	WJC 1	GHWB	RWR 2	RWR 1	JEC	RMN /GRF	RMN 1	LBJ	JFK /LBJ	DDE 2	DDE 1
current*	9	7	2	-	-	-	-	2	2	2	1	-	1	1	-	-	-	-
2004	9	7	2	-	-	-	-	2	2	2	1	-	1	1	-	-	-	-
2000	9	7	2	-	-	-	-	2	2	2	1	-	1	1	-	-	-	-
1996	9	7	2	-	-	-	-	2	2	2	1	-	1	1	-	-	-	-
1992	9	8	1	-	-	-	-	-	2	2	1	-	1	2	-	1	-	-
1988	9	7	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	-	1	2	1	1	-	1
1984	9	7	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4	1	1	-	1
1980	9	7	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	4	1	1	1	1

Court of appeals (summary of 13 circuits combined)[edit]

Year	Total	Appointed by Republicans	Appointed by Democrats	Vacant	GWB 2	GWB 1	WJC 2	WJC 1	GHWB	RWR 2	RWR 1	JEC	RMN /GRF	RMN 1	LBJ	JFK /LBJ	DDE 2	DDE 1
current*	179	97	69	13	5	33	34	26	29	20	8	9	1	1	-	-	-	-
2004	179	94	69	16	-	34	34	26	29	21	8	9	1	1	-	-	-	-
2000	179	76	78	25	-	-	34	30	35	28	11	14	1	1	-	-	-	-
1996	179	105	54	20	-	-	-	30	40	45	14	22	3	2	1	1	-	1
1992	179	119	42	18	-	-	-	-	40	50	20	40	5	3	1	1	-	1
1988	168	96	62	10	-	-	-	-	-	50	26	53	9	10	8	1	-	1
1984	168	66	76	26	-	-	-	-	-	-	33	57	15	17	14	5	-	1
1980	140	50	86	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	59	16	30	19	8	2	2

Year	Total	Appointed by Republicans	Appointed by Democrats	Vacant	GWB 2	GWB 1	WJC 2	WJC 1	GHWB	RWR 2	RWR 1	JEC	RMN /GRF	RMN 1	LBJ	JFK /LBJ	DDE 2	DDE 1
current*	100%	54%	39%	7%	3%	18%	19%	15%	16%	11%	4%	5%	1%	1%	-	-	-	-
2004	100%	52%	39%	9%	-	19%	19%	15%	16%	12%	4%	5%	1%	1%	-	-	-	-
2000	100%	42%	44%	14%	-	-	19%	17%	20%	16%	6%	8%	1%	1%	-	-	-	-
1996	100%	59%	30%	11%	-	-	-	17%	22%	25%	8%	12%	2%	1%	1%	1%	-	1%
1992	100%	67%	23%	10%	-	-	-	-	22%	28%	11%	22%	3%	2%	1%	1%	-	1%
1988	100%	57%	37%	6%	-	-	-	-	-	30%	16%	32%	5%	6%	5%	1%	-	1%
1984	100%	39%	45%	16%	-	-	-	-	-	-	20%	34%	9%	10%	8%	3%	-	1%
1980	100%	36%	61%	3%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	42%	11%	21%	14%	6%	1%	1%

Partisan mix of the courts (ranked in partisan order) as of July 21, 2005	Percentage appointed by Republicans	Percentage appointed by Democrats
8th Circuit	82%	18%
5th	75%	25%
7th	73%	27%
Federal	67%	33%
1st	67%	33%
DC	64%	36%
4th	62%	38%
Total of 13 circuits	58%	42%
10th	58%	42%
11th	58%	42%
6th	57%	43%
3rd	50%	50%
2nd	42%	58%
9th	33%	67%

First Circuit[edit]

Year	Total	Appointed by Republicans	Appointed by Democrats	Vacant	GWB 2	GWB 1	WJC 2	WJC 1	GHWB	RWR 2	RWR 1	JEC	RMN /GRF	RMN 1	LBJ
current*	6	4	2	-	-	1	1	1	1	1	1	-	-	-	-
2004	6	4	2	-	-	1	1	1	1	1	1	-	-	-	-
2000	6	4	2	-	-	-	1	1	2	1	1	-	-	-	-
1996	6	5	1	-	-	-	-	1	3	1	1	-	-	-	-
1992	6	5	1	-	-	-	-	-	3	1	1	1	-	-	-
1988	6	3	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	2	-	1	1
1984	6	2	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	2	-	1	1
1980	4	1	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	1	1

Second Circuit[edit]

Year	Total	Appointed by Republicans	Appointed by Democrats	Vacant	GWB 2	GWB 1	WJC 2	WJC 1	GHWB	RWR 2	RWR 1	JEC	RMN /GRF	RMN 1	LBJ	JFK /LBJ
current*	13	5	7	1	-	3	5	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2004	13	5	7	1	-	3	5	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2000	13	2	10	1	-	-	5	4	2	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
1996	13	5	6	2	-	-	-	4	3	1	1	2	-	-	-	-
1992	13	10	2	1	-	-	-	-	3	3	3	2	1	-	-	-
1988	13	9	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	3	4	2	1	1	1	-
1984	13	7	4	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	2	2	1	1	1
1980	11	6	4	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2	4	1	1

Third Circuit[edit]

Year	Total	Appointed by Republicans	Appointed by Democrats	Vacant	GWB 2	GWB 1	WJC 2	WJC 1	GHWB	RWR 2	RWR 1	JEC	RMN /GRF	RMN 1	LBJ
current*	14	6	6	2	-	3	4	1	2	1	-	1	-	-	-
2004	14	8	6	-	-	4	4	1	2	2	-	1	-	-	-
2000	14	6	6	2	-	-	4	1	2	3	1	1	-	-	-
1996	14	11	2	1	-	-	-	1	3	7	1	1	-	-	-
1992	14	11	1	2	-	-	-	-	3	7	1	1	-	-	-
1988	12	9	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	7	1	2	-	1	1
1984	12	6	4	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	2	1	4	2
1980	10	6	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	5	2

Fourth Circuit[edit]

Year	Total	Appointed by Republicans	Appointed by Democrats	Vacant	GWB 2	GWB 1	WJC 2	WJC 1	GHWB	RWR 2	RWR 1	JEC	RMN /GRF	RMN 1	LBJ	JFK /LBJ	DDE 2
current*	15	8	5	2	-	2	3	2	3	1	1	-	-	1	-	-	-
2004	15	8	5	2	-	2	3	2	3	1	1	-	-	1	-	-	-
2000	15	6	5	4	-	-	3	2	3	1	1	-	-	1	-	-	-
1996	15	9	4	2	-	-	-	2	4	1	1	2	1	2	-	-	-
1992	15	9	3	3	-	-	-	-	4	1	1	3	1	2	-	-	-
1988	11	6	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	2	4	1	2	1	-	-
1984	11	6	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	4	1	2	1	-	-
1980	10	4	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	1	2	2	-	1

Fifth Circuit[edit]

Year	Total	Appointed by Republicans	Appointed by Democrats	Vacant	GWB 2	GWB 1	WJC 2	WJC 1	GHWB	RWR 2	RWR 1	JEC	RMN /GRF	RMN 1	LBJ	JFK /LBJ	DDE 2	DDE 1
current*	17	12	4	1	1	2	-	3	4	2	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
2004	17	11	4	2	-	2	-	3	4	2	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
2000	17	9	5	3	-	-	-	4	4	2	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
1996	17	11	6	-	-	-	-	4	4	3	4	2	-	-	-	-	-	-
1992	17	11	2	4	-	-	-	-	4	3	4	2	-	-	-	-	-	-
1988	16	9	6	1	-	-	-	-	-	3	4	6	1	1	-	-	-	-
1984	16	7	7	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	5	7	1	1	-	-	-	-
1980	14	3	10	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	1	1	2	-	-	1

Note: The 5th Circuit judges who were transferred to the 11th Circuit in 1982 are not included in the 5th Circuit numbers for 1980.

Sixth Circuit[edit]

Year	Total	Appointed by Republicans	Appointed by Democrats	Vacant	GWB 2	GWB 1	WJC 2	WJC 1	GHWB	RWR 2	RWR 1	JEC	RMN /GRF	RMN 1	LBJ	JFK /LBJ	DDE 2
current*	16	8	6	2	2	4	2	3	1	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
2004	16	6	6	4	-	4	2	3	1	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
2000	16	5	7	4	-	-	2	3	3	2	-	2	-	-	-	-	-
1996	16	7	6	3	-	-	-	3	3	4	-	3	-	-	-	-	-
1992	16	9	5	2	-	-	-	-	3	5	1	5	-	-	-	-	-
1988	16	10	5	1	-	-	-	-	-	5	3	5	1	1	-	-	-
1984	16	6	6	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	5	1	1	-	1	-
1980	11	3	8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	1	1	1	1	1

Seventh Circuit[edit]

Year	Total	Appointed by Republicans	Appointed by Democrats	Vacant	GWB 2	GWB 1	WJC 2	WJC 1	GHWB	RWR 2	RWR 1	JEC	RMN /GRF	RMN 1	LBJ	JFK /LBJ
current*	11	8	3	-	-	1	1	2	1	4	2	-	-	-	-	-
2004	11	8	3	-	-	1	1	2	1	4	2	-	-	-	-	-
2000	11	8	3	-	-	-	1	2	1	4	3	-	-	-	-	-
1996	11	8	3	-	-	-	-	2	1	4	3	-	-	-	1	-
1992	11	9	2	-	-	-	-	-	1	4	3	1	1	-	1	-
1988	11	9	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	3	1	2	-	1	-
1984	11	6	2	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	1	2	-	1	-
1980	9	4	4	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	2	2	2	1

Eighth Circuit[edit]

Year	Total	Appointed by Republicans	Appointed by Democrats	Vacant	GWB 2	GWB 1	WJC 2	WJC 1	GHWB	RWR 2	RWR 1	JEC	RMN /GRF	RMN 1	LBJ
current*	11	9	2	-	-	6	1	1	2	1	-	-	-	-	-
2004	11	9	2	-	-	6	1	1	2	1	-	-	-	-	-
2000	11	6	4	1	-	-	1	1	3	2	1	2	-	-	-
1996	11	8	3	-	-	-	-	1	3	3	2	2	-	-	-
1992	11	9	2	-	-	-	-	-	3	3	3	2	-	-	-
1988	10	6	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	3	3	2	-	-	1
1984	10	4	5	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	2	-	1	3
1980	9	3	5	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	3

Ninth Circuit[edit]

Year	Total	Appointed by Republicans	Appointed by Democrats	Vacant	GWB 2	GWB 1	WJC 2	WJC 1	GHWB	RWR 2	RWR 1	JEC	RMN /GRF	RMN 1	LBJ	JFK /LBJ
current*	28	8	16	4	-	4	11	2	2	2	-	3	-	-	-	-
2004	28	8	16	4	-	4	11	2	2	2	-	3	-	-	-	-
2000	28	7	18	3	-	-	11	3	4	3	-	4	-	-	-	-
1996	28	10	10	8	-	-	-	3	4	6	-	6	-	-	-	1
1992	28	14	13	1	-	-	-	-	4	7	2	12	-	1	-	1
1988	28	11	14	3	-	-	-	-	-	7	2	13	-	2	-	1
1984	28	8	16	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	15	3	2	-	1
1980	23	7	16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	15	3	4	-	1

Tenth Circuit[edit]

Year	Total	Appointed by Republicans	Appointed by Democrats	Vacant	GWB 2	GWB 1	WJC 2	WJC 1	GHWB	RWR 2	RWR 1	JEC	RMN /GRF	RMN 1	LBJ	JFK /LBJ
current*	12	7	5	-	-	4	-	4	1	2	-	1	-	-	-	-
2004	12	7	5	-	-	4	-	4	1	2	-	1	-	-	-	-
2000	12	5	5	2	-	-	-	4	1	4	-	1	-	-	-	-
1996	12	7	5	-	-	-	-	4	1	6	-	1	-	-	-	-
1992	12	7	3	2	-	-	-	-	1	6	-	3	-	-	-	-
1988	10	6	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	-	3	-	-	1	-
1984	10	1	4	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	1	1	-
1980	8	3	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	3	1	1

Eleventh Circuit[edit]

Year	Total	Appointed by Republicans	Appointed by Democrats	Vacant	GWB 2	GWB 1	WJC 2	WJC 1	GHWB	RWR 2	RWR 1	JEC	RMN /GRF	RMN 1	LBJ
current*	12	7	5	-	-	1	3	1	4	1	-	1	1	-	-
2004	12	7	5	-	-	1	3	1	4	1	-	1	1	-	-
2000	12	6	5	1	-	-	3	1	4	1	-	1	1	-	-
1996	12	8	2	2	-	-	-	1	4	2	-	1	2	-	-
1992	12	8	3	1	-	-	-	-	4	2	-	3	2	-	-
1988	12	6	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	6	3	1	-
1984	12	4	8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	7	3	1	1
1980	12	4	8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	7	3	1	1

Note: In 1980, the 11th Circuit had not yet been created, but the judges that were later transfered to the 11th Circuit from the 5th Circuit are shown here.

DC Circuit[edit]

Year	Total	Appointed by Republicans	Appointed by Democrats	Vacant	GWB 2	GWB 1	WJC 2	WJC 1	GHWB	RWR 2	RWR 1	JEC	RMN /GRF	RMN 1	LBJ	JFK /LBJ
current*	12	7	4	1	2	1	-	3	2	2	-	1	-	-	-	-
2004	12	7	4	1	2	1	-	3	2	2	-	1	-	-	-	-
2000	12	5	4	3	-	-	-	3	2	3	-	1	-	-	-	-
1996	12	6	5	1	-	-	-	3	2	4	-	2	-	-	-	-
1992	12	7	4	1	-	-	-	-	2	5	-	4	-	-	-	-
1988	12	6	5	1	-	-	-	-	-	5	1	4	-	-	1	-
1984	12	3	7	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	4	-	-	2	1
1980	11	3	8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	3	2	2

Federal Circuit[edit]

Year	Total	Appointed by Republicans	Appointed by Democrats	Vacant	GWB 2	GWB 1	WJC 2	WJC 1	GHWB	RWR 2	RWR 1	JEC	RMN /GRF	RMN 1	LBJ	JFK /LBJ	DDE 2	DDE 1
current*	12	8	4	-	-	1	3	1	4	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2004	12	8	4	-	-	1	3	1	4	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2000	12	7	4	1	-	-	3	1	4	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1996	12	10	1	1	-	-	-	1	5	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
1992	12	10	1	1	-	-	-	-	5	3	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	1
1988	12	7	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	3	2	3	-	1	-	-	-	1
1984	12	7	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	3	1	3	1	1	-	1
1980	11	6	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	1	4	1	1	-	1

Note: The Federal Circuit was created in 1982. The judges that sat on the courts that were combined into the Federal circuit are shown in 1980 for trend comparison purposes.

Acronym Key[edit]

Acronym	President	Term	Date Range
GWB 2	George W. Bush	second	January 20, 2005 - present
GWB 1	George W. Bush	first	January 20, 2001 - January 20, 2005
WJC 2	Bill Clinton	second	January 20, 1997 - January 20, 2001
WJC 1	Bill Clinton	first	January 20, 1993 - January 20, 1997
GHWB	George H. W. Bush	only	January 20, 1989 - January 20, 1993
RWR 2	Ronald Reagan	second	January 20, 1985 - January 20, 1989
RWR 1	Ronald Reagan	first	January 20, 1981 - January 20, 1985
JEC	Jimmy Carter	only	January 20, 1977 - January 20, 1981
RMN/GRF	Nixon and Ford	split	January 20, 1973 - January 20, 1977
RMN 1	Richard Nixon	first	January 20, 1969 - January 20, 1973
LBJ	Lyndon Johnson	second	January 20, 1965 - January 20, 1969
JFK/LBJ	Kennedy and Johnson	split	January 20, 1961 - January 20, 1965
DDE 2	Dwight Eisenhower	second	January 20, 1957 - January 20, 1961
DDE 1	Dwight Eisenhower	first	January 20, 1953 - January 20, 1957

External links[edit]

Ideological Voting on Federal Courts of Appeals

Catexgory:Judicial Branch of the United States Government Catxegory:Politics of the U.S.