Former Chief Judge of the Eastern District of Virginia, the Honorable Rebecca Beach Smith, will take senior status effective August 1, 2019.  The U.S. Courts website now lists her seat as a “future vacancy” and lists her senior status as the reason for the vacancy.  Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, she was the first female federal judge in Virginia.  She would later serve as the Chief Judge for the District from 2011 to 2018.