October 12, 2014: He Took Senior Status. He Did Not Leave the D.C. Docket.

DOCUMENTED

E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse, 333 Constitution Avenue NW

E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse. AgnosticPreachersKid, 30 May 2010. CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Federal Judicial Center entry for Bates, John D., states: “Assumed senior status on October 12, 2014.” The D.C. court continues to list him as Senior Judge John D. Bates, with chambers and a court webpage.

Senior status under 28 U.S.C. § 371 is a statutory election that reduces a judge’s required workload while leaving the commission in place. It is not a resignation. Bates continued to issue published opinions after that date, including the 2018 DACA rescission decision and the 2025–2026 Trump-administration dockets in this file.

The FJC also records that the seat he vacated as an active judge was later abolished. That is a staffing note about the court. It is not a finding about any case.

Sources

Federal Judicial Center. “Bates, John D.” www.fjc.gov

U.S. District Court for D.C. “Senior Judge John D. Bates.” www.dcd.uscourts.gov

U.S. District Court for D.C. “Judge John D. Bates’ Court Webpage.” www.dcd.uscourts.gov

Opinion

The following is commentary by this site. It is not a finding of fact and not a legal conclusion.

Compiler take

Senior status. Still in the building. Still drawing the cases that land on the President.