Eighth Circuit Federal Court 2023

The Eighth Circuit runs the mid and upper western watershed of the Mississippi River from Arkansas to Minnesota covering 7 states divided into 10 districts.  Their are a handful of facts regarding the Eighth Circuit.  The division of states in some some cases in antiquated and wasteful.  I've not mentioned my larger ideas around redistribution of resources and boundaries, but it makes absolutely no sense that Iowa has two districts and Minnesota is maintained in one given the relative size and populations of the two states.

The Eighth Circuit covers a very white swath of the United States with some very interesting demographic anomalies like the largest populations of Somali and Hmong Americans in the nation residing in Minnesota, and the influx of Hispanic residents to Iowa.  The impact of all three is limited against the overall numbers, but nonetheless worth noting as a future force trend.  Also the Eighth Circuit is the first to have a sufficient number of Native American residents to register at 1%.  Of course, nearly 6% of South Dakota's residents are Native American, but their presence is diluted against the populations of the other other states within the circuit.  This, in spite of large numbers in Minnesota and North Dakota, too.

In terms of Gender parity, the 8th Circuit is rather dismal.  There are notable exceptions like Southern Iowa and Minnesota on an individual District level.  It's Appellate Court is the most male, white, and Republican appointed in the nation.  

In this environment, with a majority of Republican Senators representing these states and some of them aggressively hostile toward the Biden Administration, looking at you, Josh Hawley (R-MO) and you, Tom Cotton (R-AR), the likelihood of empty seats getting filled with qualified candidates who's views are moderate to progressive are nil to none.  Where Senators are more reasonable, compromise has already proven possible.  Besides Minnesota with its two Democratic Senators, Southern Iowa has successfully seated a new District Judge thanks to the cooperation of Republican Senators Graham and Ernst.  Bottomline, in a circuit desparitely in need of Gender Parity at the very least, are the Senators (all Republican) from Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota willing to work with the Biden Administration?  And if not, I can think of no better argument for the dissolution of the courtesy known as the "Blue Slip" option.  An unconstitutional tradition that allows any Senator to block any District Judge nominee for any reason without any need to even state it or mount an argument to justify it.  

Without further ado, the graphics.

Based on these ratios, the safest place to live is Minnesota and the most lawless is South Dakota.  Let that sink in!

Footnote: I made these graphics back at the end of January and since then seats have opened up in Nebraska, and both Eastern and Western Missouri.  By the end of June, two more seats will open up in Eastern Missouri.  

Generally speaking the Ratio of White judges is in line with the population overall.  The adjustment to bring parity would mean that the two open seats would be filled by an Hispanic Justice and an Asian Justice, though neither of these choices would best reflect the populations of South Dakota or Arkansas.