New legislation proposing an increase in federal judicial staff has been introduced by the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts. This follows Senate approval of a bill proposing the addition of 66 new and temporary judgeships over the next decade. The increase is sought to address the high case load of the federal judges.
The bill, the Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved Act of 2024, or the JUDGES Act, proposes the permanent addition of 63 federal judges. The rollout suggests the additions take place in six phases from 2025 to 2035. Starting in 2025, 11 judges are proposed to be added in six separate groups or stages.
In addition, 3 temporary district court judgeships are proposed for Oklahoma, where federal courts are seeing an increase in caseloads. The increase in that state follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 McGirt v. Oklahoma decision over tribal reservation boundaries.
The proposal also assigns the U.S. Government Accountability Office with the evaluation of federal court efficiency and detention space requirements. The law also requires the publication of the federal Judicial Conference judicial seat recommendations and methodology. Finally, additional federal case locations are added in California, Texas, and Utah, to increase access to the courts for larger districts.
There are 724,209 pending cases in U.S. federal district courts as of June 30, 2024. This averages to 554 cases per judgeship. Congress has not authorized the addition of new district court judgeships in over two decades. The Senate passed the JUDGES Act companion in August, with an estimated cost of $251 million over 10 years. The estimated cost of the expanded federal judiciary is $6 billion in this fiscal year.
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