This report provides a profile of select demographic and background characteristics of active judges currently serving on the U.S. courts of appeals and U.S. district courts. Specifically, for active circuit and district court judges serving as of June 1, 2017, this report provides a statistical breakdown of these judges' gender; race; gender and race, combined; current age; age at the time of their appointment to the bench; length of service; and professional occupation or position at the time of their appointment. A statistical breakdown of these select demographic and background characteristics is provided first for active U.S. circuit court judges, followed by the same information for active U.S. district court judges. Circuit courts take appeals from federal district court decisions and are also empowered to review the decisions of many administrative agencies. The court of appeals decision "usually will be the final word in [a] case, unless it sends the case back to the trial court for additional proceedings, or the parties ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case" (the Supreme Court, though, is not required to grant review of the circuit court's decision). Altogether, 179 circuit court judgeships are currently authorized by law. These judgeships are distributed across 13 judicial circuits, 12 of which are geographic in nature (i.e., regional circuits comprised of specific groups of states). At present, among the 12 regional circuits, the First Circuit (comprised of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, and Rhode Island) has the fewest number of authorized judgeships, with 6, while the Ninth Circuit (comprised of California, 8 other western states, and 2 U.S. territories) has the greatest number of judgeships, with 29. U.S. district courts are the federal trial courts of general jurisdiction. Altogether, 673 U.S. district court judgeships, as well as 4 territorial district court judgeships, are currently authorized by law. The 673 U.S. district court judgeships are distributed across 91 district courts (89 are located in the 50 states, plus one court in the District of Columbia, and one in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico). Congress has authorized between 1 and 28 judgeships for each district court. The Eastern District of Oklahoma has 1 judgeship (the fewest among Article III district courts), while the Southern District of New York and Central District of California each have 28 judgeships (the most among Article III district courts). The demographic characteristics and professional experiences of U.S. circuit and district court judges are of ongoing interest to Congress. Such interest is demonstrated especially at the time circuit and district court nominations are considered by the Senate. For example, floor statements by Senators in support of circuit or district court nominees frequently emphasize the particular demographic characteristics of nominees that would enhance the diversity of the federal judiciary, as well as emphasize judicial nominees' professional qualifications. The statistics included in this report are based upon the demographic and background characteristics of individuals serving, as of June 1, 2017, as circuit or district court judges, and, consequently, do not include a President's circuit or district court appointees who are no longer serving as active judges. Consequently, unless otherwise noted, the statistics reported below do not reflect all of the circuit or district court appointments made by a President during his tenure in office. Additionally, the statistics presented below do not include those individuals whose nominations to circuit or district court judgeships were unsuccessful or whose nominations are currently pending in the Senate. As of June 1, 2017, there were 160 active circuit court judges and 19 vacant circuit court judgeships (for a total of 179 circuit court judgeships). The denominator used for the statistics presented throughout this report, unless otherwise noted, is based upon the number of active circuit court judges (160) and does not include, as of this writing, the 19 vacant judgeships. Note that, because many circuit courts have a relatively small number of authorized judgeships, small changes in the demographic characteristics of the particular judges serving on an appellate court can produce changes in the statistics reported below. Such changes might occur, for example, as vacancies that existed on June 1, 2017, are filled by new appointees. Similarly, as of June 1, 2017, there were 570 active district court judges and 103 vacant district court judgeships (for a total of 673 district court judgeships). The denominator used for the statistics presented throughout this report, unless otherwise noted, is based upon the number of active district court judges (570) and does not include, as of this writing, the 103 vacant judgeships. This section provides statistics and information related to select demographic characteristics and professional experiences of active U.S. circuit court judges. As of June 1, 2017, a total of 59 women were serving as U.S. circuit court judges, representing 37% of all active circuit court judges (men comprised 63%). As of June 1, 2017, there were active female judges serving on each of the nation's 13 appellate courts, with the greatest number of women serving on the Ninth Circuit (11), and the fewest number on the Eighth Circuit (1). In terms of the percentage of active judges in each circuit who are women, the Sixth Circuit has the highest percentage (with women being 7, or 47%, of 15 active judges), while the Eighth Circuit has the lowest percentage (with women being 1, or 11%, of 9 active judges). Figure 1 shows the number of active female U.S. circuit court judges serving on the bench during each calendar year from 1977 to 2017. Overall, during this period, the number of female circuit court judges increased from 1 to 59. The number of female circuit court judges serving, thus, far, in 2017 (59 judges) is slightly lower than the all-time high number of female judges (61 judges) that were serving in 2015 (also shown in Figure 1 ), during the seventh year of the Obama presidency. Of the 160 active U.S. circuit court judges serving on June 1, 2017, 120 (75%) were white, 21 (13%) were African American, 14 (9%) were Hispanic, and 5 (3%) were Asian American. As shown by Figure 2 , as of June 1, 2017, there were African American judges serving on 12 of the nation's 13 appellate courts (all except for the Federal Circuit); Hispanic judges serving on 9 appellate courts; and Asian American judges serving on 5 appellate courts. As of June 1, 2017, there were two circuit courts, the Ninth and Second, with at least one active judge from each of the three groups (i.e., there was as at least one African American, Hispanic, and Asian American judge serving on the court). As of June 1, 2017, there were six U.S. circuit courts with more than one active African American judge (the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Ninth, and D.C. Circuits). Each of the other circuits (with the exception of the Federal Circuit) had a single active African American judge, including the Eleventh Circuit (comprised of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida), a circuit with the largest African American population in the country. The greatest number of active African American judges were serving on the Fourth, Sixth, and D.C. Circuits, each with three judges. As of June 1, 2017, there were two U.S. circuit courts with more than one active Hispanic judge (the Ninth and Federal Circuits). The greatest number of active Hispanic judges were serving on the Ninth Circuit (with five). As of June 1, 2017, there were no circuit courts with active Asian American judges on which more than one active Asian American judge was serving. Figure 3 shows the number of active African American, Hispanic, and Asian American U.S. circuit court judges serving on the bench during each calendar year from 1977 to 2017. Overall, during this period, the number of African American circuit court judges increased from 4 to 21; the number of Hispanic circuit court judges increased from 0 to 14; and the number of Asian American circuit court judges increased from 2 to 5. This section provides a percentage breakdown of the 160 active U.S. circuit court judges by gender and race. As shown by Figure 4 , white men represent 45.6% of federal appellate court judges; white women represent 29.4%; African American men represent 8.7%; African American women represent 4.4%; Hispanic men represent 6.2%; Hispanic women represent 2.5%; Asian American men represent 2.5%; and Asian American women represent 0.6%. As defined previously by CRS, "nontraditional" judges are those judges belonging to certain demographic groups from which individuals, historically, were not often, if ever, selected for federal judgeships. Consequently, this group includes white women, non-white women, and non-white men. For example, of the 74 white women to ever serve as U.S. circuit court judges, 72 (or 97%) were appointed to the bench between 1977 and 2017 (i.e., 2 were appointed prior to 1977). Of the 14 non-white women to ever serve as circuit court judges, all 14 were appointed to the bench at some point between 1977 and 2017. Of the 55 non-white men to ever serve as a circuit court judge, 49 (or 89%) were appointed to the bench between 1977 and 2017. In contrast, of the 600 white men to ever serve as U.S. circuit court judges, 232 (or 39%) were appointed to the bench between 1977 and 2017. CRS noted previously that, during the Obama presidency, nontraditional judges for the first time in judicial history comprised over 50% of active federal appellate court judges (this occurred with the appointment of Pamela Harris of Maryland to the Fourth Circuit).