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.
As of October 2009, most federal courts still had a majority of
Republican President appointees, reflecting Republican dominance of the Presidency in recent times (in the thirty years between 1979 and 2009, twenty have been spent under Republican Presidents). However, 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.
Supreme Court
The
Supreme Court of the United States was established by the
Constitution of the United States.
Originally, the
Judiciary Act of 1789 set the number of Justices at six. Subsequently, the
United States Congress increased the number of Justices to seven in 1807, nine in 1837 and ten in 1863.
The
Judiciary Act of 1869 reduced the number of Justices to nine again
Courts of appeals
The
United States Court of Appeals were established by the
Judiciary Act of 1891 as "United States circuit courts of appeals" (the name was changed to its current form in 1948). The act authorized 19 appellant judgeships in 9 circuits. Since then, the number of authorized judgeships has increased to 179.
[http://www.uscourts.gov/history/appealschronol.pdf] Summary of 13 circuits combined
- There were temporarily only 178 existing appellate federal judgeships, due to the elimination of a 12th seat on the D.C. Circuit by SEC. 509. of the Court Security Improvement Act of 2007.
[http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-660] However, the Act also provided for the creation of a 29th seat on the Ninth Circuit in January 2009 which increased the number of authorized appellate judgeships to 179 again.
Partisan mix of the circuit courts
As of October 10, 2009
Note: The 5th Circuit judges who were transferred to the 11th Circuit in 1982 are not included in the 5th Circuit numbers for 1980.
Note: SEC. 509. of the Court Security Improvement Act of 2007
provided for the creation of a 29th seat on the Ninth Circuit in January 2009.
Note: In 1980, the 11th Circuit had not yet been created, but the judges that were later transferred to the 11th Circuit from the 5th Circuit are shown here.
- SEC. 509. of the Court Security Improvement Act of 2007
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
