The Senate has confirmed Margaret Bartley, Esq., and General Carol Wong Pletsch as judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans' Claims. These judges are expected to begin their duties with the court in July 2012. There is one other vacancy on the court that is not expected to be filled at this time. The addition of the new judges brings the total of active judges from six to eight. The court has been appointing the retired judges to three month appointments to help with the case backlog. The court has not indicated whether this practice will continue with the addition of the new judges to the court.
The increase in number of regular judges should descrease the amount of time it takes for the court to render a decision. Further, the case load before the court has declined slightly over the last two years.