A reader who is very knowledgeable about the federal courts has asked me to list all federal appellate judges who are eligible to take senior status and who are 75 or older. His premise is that once judges get around that age, they are more likely to take senior status irrespective whether the sitting president is of the same party as the president who appointed them. I don’t know whether that premise is true, but I will nonetheless indulge his request.
I set forth below the senior-eligible federal appellate judges who will be 75 or older by the end of 2019. I emphasize that some of the judges on the list have passed over plenty of opportunities to retire. Judge Tjoflat, for example, turns 90 in December. He became eligible to take senior status in 1994, so there is no particular reason to expect him to take it now.
Appointees of Republican presidents
Henderson, D.C. Circuit
Torruella, First Circuit
Niemeyer, Fourth Circuit
Wilkinson, Fourth Circuit
Flaum, Seventh Circuit
Kanne, Seventh Circuit
Rovner, Seventh Circuit
Loken, Eighth Circuit
Bea, Ninth Circuit
Smith, M., Ninth Circuit
Tjoflat, Eleventh Circuit
Lourie, Federal Circuit
Newman, Federal Circuit
Appointees of Democratic presidents
Rogers, D.C. Circuit
Tatel, D.C. Circuit
Cabranes, Second Circuit
Pooler, Second Circuit
King, Fourth Circuit
Motz, Fourth Circuit
Dennis, Fifth Circuit
Lucero, Tenth Circuit
Dyk, Federal Circuit