President Obama this fall will have his first opportunity to put his stamp on the patent-heavy U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Judge Alvin Schall recently told the White House that he will take senior status in October. That will create the first of what could be as many as eight vacancies on the appellate court in the president’s first term.
Eight of the court’s 12 judges will be eligible to retire or to take senior status in less than two years. The judges currently eligible for senior status include Chief Judge Paul Michel, Pauline Newman, Haldane Mayer and Alan Lourie. Those eligible this year are Schall, Timothy Dyk, Arthur Gajarsa and, in early 2010, William Bryson. Four senior judges now sit on the court: Daniel Friedman, Glenn Archer, S. Jay Plager, and Raymond Clavenger.
