Talk:Federal judicial appointment history

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Contents 1 Chargres 2 Bush's 2nd Term Total 3 District Judges 4 Bush's First Term Total

[edit] Chargres

Did a comprehensive update for this site, which was necessary following the confirmation of Michael Chagares to the 3rd Circuit, and Susan Bieke Nielson's death on the Sixth Circuit. Jeez, this is a long page!--Smashingworth 00:37, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bush's 2nd Term Total

The summary of the circuits currently has Bush's appointments at 6. By my count this is not accurate; it should be 7 (Owen, Brown, Pryor, Griffin, McKeague, Griffith, and Chagares). This is not counting Susan Bieke Nielson, who died shortly after appointment. Now the Bush second term total is incorrect, but does that mean the total appointed by Republicans is wrong as well as the number of vacancies? Looking forward to making sure we're correctly up to date.--Smashingworth 02:23, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

Although not a permanent appointment at the time, Pryor started his service during Bush's first term. For the same reason, Roger Gregory is included under Clinton's 2nd term, though permanently confirmed in Bush's first term. We could add a footnote if you think it is necessary. NoSeptember ^talk 02:42, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

Might be useful. I have already updated Gregory's info on the Fourth Circuit page with such a footnote, and I'm sure the Eleventh Circuit reflects the same for Pryor. That way we can keep track of how we're counting these appointments.--Smashingworth 03:20, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

It is my hope not to clutter this article with footnotes since it basically repeats information that people can look up in the individual circuit court articles. For example, to find out who the 6 GWB2 appointments are, a user could scan the charts of the 13 circuits here to see where they are, and then look at the individual circuit court articles to see who they are. If necessary to keep track, maybe we could create a worksheet here on the talk page to track the confirmations and the new vacancies that have occured in the current term. NoSeptember ^talk 03:38, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

I'm not very good at creating the tables and worksheets, but I do know that new vacancies and nominees are expected soon. For instance, Bruce Selya of the 1st Circuit will soon take senior status, and so will Franklin Van Antwerpen of the 3rd Circuit. Rumor is the nominee for the vacancy on the Federal Circuit has already been chosen.--Smashingworth 03:49, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

Milan Smith is scheduled to be confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday the 16th. We'll have to update this monster page all over again. Ugh.--Smashingworth 03:14, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Too bad there's no spreadsheet style automated totals. Is that ever going to be part of wikipedia?--Scotchex 22:10, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] District Judges

This is a very useful page. Is there a page like it that tracks district judge appointments? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.48.199.78 (talk • contribs).

Not yet, but it could be useful at some point if someone wants to start such a page. However, I think adding a list of judges (current and past) to each district court article would probably be the first step, before creating a summary article. I started doing this, but only did the districts in the 1st and 2nd circuits so far (and not very neatly yet either). In fact some districts don't even have articles yet (see Template:USDistCourts for the links) NoSeptember 20:19, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

Man, the amount of work that would take is daunting. I find it so hard to work with the templates sometimes. Otherwise, this would be up my alley.--Smashingworth 01:28, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

A couple of points. 1) We don't have to update it every time there is a change, once a year would do, or whenever someone wanted to do it. 2) Unlike circuit courts where they put together panels for each appeal, and the partisan mix can be a big factor, district judges work pretty much on their own, so what the mix is in each district is no more relevant than what the mix is nationwide (unless you have a case pending in that district ;-). In fact, just knowing the mix on a national level may be enough to satisfy the curious. So the district court summary page will be fine when we have enough people interested and willing to maintain it, but that may be a while... but then, wikipedia is always growing. NoSeptember 03:35, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

I like to update it for every change, so I can keep straight all the numbers without getting confused. And I like it to be accurate. I think we'll get the two Ninth Circuit judges confirmed this summer, but that's it. Maybe Wallace and the Tenth Circuit, and Fed Cir nominees just before Senate adjournment. There's so little time left.--Smashingworth 19:56, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

Feel free to update every time if you like. I'm just saying that being a bit out of date won't throw off the basic trend analysis that this article was intended to show. It all comes down to how much work you are willing to do - do as much as you like :-). NoSeptember 13:46, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bush's First Term Total

The chart says he appointed 35 total, 33 of whom are still serving. Perhaps I'm misreading what "33" means because by my count there are at least three from his first term who are gone: Chertoff, Roberts, and Pickering. Am I missing something? Thanks.--Smashingworth 05:02, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

The answer can always be found when you look into the individual circuit detail which will add up to the totals. In this case, the 5th circuit shows no new vacancy since 2004. The data on the chart represents a snapshot of where we stand at the end of each term. and a reccess appointment does not carry over to a new term. Pickering left just before the "snapshot" was taken and is not included in the 2004 5th circuit figure since he came and left within a single term. This was true in a few other cases too, Susan Nielson will not show up here having died in the same term as appointment, Clarence Thomas on the DC circuit and Souter on the 1st circuit also don't show up from the GHWB term.

Roger Gregory and Pryor are the anomalies here, because I kept Gregory under Clinton and Pryor under GWB1, since it seemed appropriate to list them under the orginal appointing president as we carry them forward until retirement. I try to accurately show the trend of judges by who originally appointed them and how many remain as each term ends. If they decide against being reappointed, as Pickering did, then it is correct to just show him as not there when term GWB1 ended, which is what happened. Had he been reappointed and approved I would have shown him being there at the end of GWB1 as with Pryor and Gregory. (Not a perfect solution, but one consistent with the purpose of this article) NoSeptember 05:56, 19 June 2006 (UTC)