Judge Richard Paez has become the third Ninth Circuit judge—after Judge Susan Graber and Judge Marsha Berzon—to announce that he will take senior status upon confirmation of his successor. Paez, Graber, and Berzon were all appointed to the court by Bill Clinton.

There are six other Clinton appointees on the Ninth Circuit who are eligible to take senior status: William Fletcher, Ronald Gould, Margaret McKeown, Johnnie Rawlinson, Sidney Thomas, and Kim McLane Wardlaw. I wouldn’t be surprised to see all of them do so soon. (Thomas is chief judge until December 1, 2021, and I’d expect him to complete his term as chief judge.)

There are also three George W. Bush appointees on the Ninth Circuit who are eligible to take senior status: Consuelo Callahan, Sandra Ikuta, and Milan Smith. Smith, who turns 79 in a week, is the oldest of the three and the least conservative, so he strikes me as the most likely to take senior status.

The current divide among active judges on the Ninth Circuit, by party of appointing president, is 16 Democratic appointees versus 13 Republican appointees.