House lawmakers have teed up a floor vote as early as this week on a bill that would add dozens of new judgeships to the federal courts, as Democrats argued that Republicans played political games by delaying a vote on the measure until after the election.
The House Rules Committee approved a rule Monday that outlined floor consideration on a bill that would add 63 permanent positions to the federal judiciary and three temporary positions, phased in over a 10-year period starting in 2025.
The bill, which is aimed at addressing case backlogs in the federal court system, would provide for new federal district court judgeships every two years. The Senate passed it by unanimous consent in August.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said there were hundreds of thousands of pending cases in federal district courts across the nation as of June.
“Millions of Americans face unacceptable delays at federal courthouses because of large caseloads for judges in certain judicial districts throughout the country,” Jordan said.
Congress, he said, has not authorized new district judgeships in more than two decades.
“This stagnation has left our courts overwhelmed with many Americans waiting far too long for their day in court,” he said.
Democrats criticized the timing of the vote. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said Monday he’s long argued for more federal judges.
But to get bipartisan support, the bill had to be passed before the November general election because it would be unknown which party would win the White House and get the first chance to fill any newly created vacancies, Nadler said.
“Under this legislation, we all promised to give the next three unknown presidents a certain number of judges,” Nadler said. “Because no one can tell the future, we were all at an equal disadvantage.”
Nadler said Republican leadership “refused to touch” the bill, and he urged his fellow lawmakers to vote against the measure, saying there was “political gamesmanship” in the process under which the bill was receiving a floor vote.
“My colleagues and I begged them to take it up” before the election, Nadler said. “We explained the stakes. They knew that bipartisan support for creating desperately needed new judgeships would only exist if the bill were passed into law before Nov. 5, but they refused.”
Now that the election is over, it would provide President-elect Donald Trump with the first tranche of additional seats under the bill.
Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., asked Jordan why House Republicans waited months before moving to take a vote on the measure.
Jordan responded by saying the bill came out of the Senate unanimously. And for some of the first judicial seats Trump will be able to appoint, Democratic senators will get to weigh in on the process, he said.
“I don’t know how you make it any fairer than what it is. If all those first states had all Republican senators, then maybe you have an argument, but I think this is as fair as it’s going to get,” Jordan said.
Neguse pressed further on why House Republicans were taking up the bill after the election.
Jordan said they “just didn’t get” to the legislation.
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