In October 2023, Judge Algenon Marbley of the Southern District of Ohio announced his intention to assume the senior position once his successor is confirmed. But the White House has never named anyone to fill Mabley’s seat. No choice was specified because Senators Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance could not agree on an appropriate replacement.
Last week, Judge Mabley notified the White House of the change in plans. Judge Marbley no longer intends to hold senior office. Perhaps it’s because he doesn’t want Donald Trump to nominate his successor.
Judge Mabley’s decision means Trump has one less federal judicial vacancy to fill, and there will likely be fewer judicial vacancies in the next four years than there were in the past four years or during Trump’s first term.
Will Judge Marbley be the only judge to rescind a previously announced seniority decision? We will see. According to Administrative Office of the U.S. CourtsThere are eight additional federal judges who have announced their appointments and intentions to retire, but no potential successors have been named. Some have identified specific dates when they expect to leave active service, while others have not. There are 11 additional judges who have announced their intention to leave, with the Biden White House appointing a replacement.
In 1968, Chief Justice Earl Warren assumed that President Johnson would name a successor and announced his intention to retire once a successor was confirmed, but that was not the case. The Senate refused to elevate Associate Justice Abe Fortas to Chief Justice, thus preventing Homer Thornberry from being confirmed by the court before the election. Chief Justice Warren was displeased with newly elected President Richard Nixon’s nomination of a successor, but he appears to have thought it inappropriate to cancel his retirement declaration based on the election results for fear that his decision would be seen as too political. This gave Nixon the opportunity to appoint Warren Berger to the Supreme Court, and the rest is history.
