The Senate Judiciary Committee voted on June 13 to advance a bill that would incrementally add dozens of federal judges to the court system over 10 years.
If passed and signed by the president, the bill would make many temporary judgeships permanent while setting up a series of additions every two years until 2035. In total, 66 federal judgeships would supplement the 677 authorized district court seats in the United States.
Dubbed the Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved Act (JUDGES) of 2024, the bill passed the committee with a 20–0 vote after changes that made the additions more incremental over time.
An earlier version of the bill would have added half of the new judges in 2025 and the other half in 2029. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a longtime Judiciary Committee member, said during the June 13 hearing that he long opposed adding new judges. However, he supported the legislation after it included a more incremental timeframe.
Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said that structure would allow Congress “to effectively respond to our judiciary’s needs without giving any advantage to one party or one single president.”
The recently passed version would allow the president to appoint 11 additional district judges across the United States in 2025, 11 in 2027, 10 in 2029, 11 in 2031, 10 in 2033, and 10 in 2035. Three other judgeships for Oklahoma would be temporary.
Increasing Workload
If passed, it would constitute the first time since 1990 that Congress enacted comprehensive judgeship legislation. According to the Senate bill, this is “the longest period of time since district courts of the United States were established in 1789 that Congress has not authorized any new permanent district court judgeships.”
A similar bill came from House Judiciary Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Ranking Member Hank Johnson (D-Ga.). Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) are sponsoring the legislation in the other chamber.
Lawmakers in both chambers cited the increasing number of cases filed in district courts.
Mr. Grassley said he would have liked to create a way to allow judges in under-worked districts to move to busier ones as a solution.
The bill comes amid legislators’ calls for reform within both the U.S. Supreme Court and the federal court system. Democrats, in particular, have called for ethics reform at the nation’s highest court and an end to so-called judge shopping in lower courts following controversy surrounding judges at both levels.
In March, the Judicial Conference announced a policy requiring random assignment of judges when civil actions “seek to bar or mandate state or federal actions.”
It’s unclear when or whether the Senate bill in its current form will pass on a floor vote. The office of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’s request for comment.
Reuters contributed to this report.
