District of Columbia Courts Vacancy Reduction Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1853 To amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to provide for the automatic appointment of judges to the District of Columbia courts without the advice and consent of the Senate, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 21, 2019 Ms. NORTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to pro- vide for the automatic appointment of judges to the District of Columbia courts without the advice and con- sent of the Senate, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘District of Columbia 4 Courts Vacancy Reduction Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1853.IH H1853 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1853 IH SEC. 2. AUTOMATIC APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES TO DIS- 1 TRICT OF COLUMBIA COURTS. 2 (a) APPOINTMENTS BY PRESIDENT.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 433(a) of the Dis- 4 trict of Columbia Home Rule Act (sec. 1–204.33(a), 5 D.C. Official Code) is amended by striking ‘‘the 6 President shall nominate’’ and all that follows and 7 inserting the following: ‘‘from the list of persons rec- 8 ommended by the District of Columbia Judicial 9 Nomination Commission established under section 10 434, the President shall appoint all judges of the 11 District of Columbia courts.’’. 12 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 433 13 of such Act (sec. 1–204.33, D.C. Official Code) is 14 further amended— 15 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘NOMINA- 16 TION AND’’; 17 (B) in subsection (b) in the matter pre- 18 ceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘nominated 19 or’’; 20 (C) in paragraph (2) of subsection (b), by 21 striking ‘‘his nomination’’ and inserting ‘‘ap- 22 pointment’’; 23 (D) in paragraph (3) of subsection (b), by 24 striking ‘‘his nomination’’ and inserting ‘‘ap- 25 pointment’’; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1853.IH H1853 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1853 IH (E) in paragraph (4) of subsection (b), by 1 striking ‘‘the President, for such nomination 2 and appointment,’’ and inserting ‘‘the President 3 for such appointment’’; 4 (F) in paragraph (5) of subsection (b), by 5 striking ‘‘his nomination’’ and inserting ‘‘ap- 6 pointment’’; 7 (G) in the fifth sentence of subsection (c), 8 by striking ‘‘then the President may nominate’’ 9 and all that follows and inserting ‘‘the Presi- 10 dent may reappoint such candidate as judge.’’; 11 (H) in the sixth sentence of subsection (c), 12 by striking ‘‘not to so nominate such declaring 13 candidate, he shall nominate another can- 14 didate’’ and inserting ‘‘not to so reappoint such 15 declaring candidate, the President shall appoint 16 another candidate’’; and 17 (I) in the seventh sentence of subsection 18 (c), by striking ‘‘then the President shall not 19 submit to the Senate for advice and consent the 20 renomination of the declaring candidate as 21 judge’’ and inserting ‘‘the President shall not 22 reappoint the declaring candidate as judge’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1853.IH H1853 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1853 IH (3) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con- 1 tents of such Act is amended by amending the item 2 relating to section 433 to read as follows: 3 ‘‘Sec. 433. Appointment of judges.’’. (b) APPOINTMENTS BY JUDICIAL NOMINATION COM- 4 MISSION.—Section 434(d)(1) of such Act (sec. 1– 5 204.34(d)(1), D.C. Official Code) is amended— 6 (1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘for pos- 7 sible nomination and appointment’’ and inserting 8 ‘‘for possible appointment’’; 9 (2) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘more 10 than one nominee’’ and inserting ‘‘more than one 11 person’’; 12 (3) in the third sentence, by striking ‘‘of nomi- 13 nees’’; and 14 (4) in the fourth sentence— 15 (A) by striking ‘‘the President fails to 16 nominate, for Senate confirmation,’’ and insert- 17 ing ‘‘the President fails to appoint’’; and 18 (B) by striking ‘‘the Commission shall 19 nominate, and with the advice and consent of 20 the Senate, appoint’’ and inserting ‘‘the Com- 21 mission shall appoint’’. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1853.IH H1853 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1853 IH SEC. 3. AUTHORIZING CONGRESS TO PREVENT APPOINT- 1 MENT THROUGH RESOLUTION OF DIS- 2 APPROVAL. 3 (a) RESOLUTIONS OF DISAPPROVAL.—Part C of title 4 IV of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act (sec. 1– 5 204.31 et seq., D.C. Official Code) is amended by insert- 6 ing after section 434 the following new section: 7 ‘‘AUTHORIZING CONGRESS TO PREVENT APPOINTMENT 8 THROUGH RESOLUTION OF DISAPPROVAL 9 ‘‘SEC. 434A. (a) REQUIRING TRANSMISSION OF NO- 10 TICE OF APPOINTMENT TO CONGRESS.—Notice of the ap- 11 pointment of a judge of a District of Columbia court under 12 this part shall be transmitted to the Speaker of the House 13 of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the 14 Senate by— 15 ‘‘(1) the President, in the case of an appoint- 16 ment under section 433; or 17 ‘‘(2) the District of Columbia Judicial Nomina- 18 tion Commission, in the case of an appointment 19 under section 434(d)(1). 20 ‘‘(b) TIMING OF APPOINTMENT.—The appointment 21 of a judge of the District of Columbia courts shall take 22 effect upon the expiration of the 30-calendar-day period 23 (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, and any day 24 on which neither House is in session because of an ad- 25 journment sine die, a recess of more than three days, or 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1853.IH H1853 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1853 IH an adjournment of more than three days) beginning on 1 the date on which notice of the appointment is transmitted 2 to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the 3 President pro tempore of the Senate under subsection (a), 4 unless during such 30-calendar-day period there has been 5 enacted into law a joint resolution disapproving of the ap- 6 pointment. 7 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION OF EXPEDITED PROCEDURES FOR 8 CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTIONS OF DISAPPROVAL OF 9 COUNCIL ACTS TO CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTIONS OF 10 DISAPPROVAL OF APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES.— 11 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION OF PROCEDURES.—The pro- 12 visions of section 604, except subsections (d), (e), 13 and (f) of such section, shall apply with respect to 14 a joint resolution described in paragraph (2) in the 15 same manner as such provisions apply to a joint res- 16 olution disapproving an act of the District of Colum- 17 bia Council which is described in section 604(b). 18 ‘‘(2) RESOLUTIONS DESCRIBED.—A resolution 19 described in this paragraph is a resolution, the mat- 20 ter after the resolving clause of which is as follows: 21 ‘That the llllllll disapproves of the ap- 22 pointment of llllllll as a judge of the 23 llllllll.’, with the first blank filled in 24 with the name of the House of Congress involved, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1853.IH H1853 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1853 IH the second blank filled in with the name of the indi- 1 vidual involved, and the third blank filled in with the 2 name of the District of Columbia court involved, but 3 does not include any resolution which specifies more 4 than one action.’’. 5 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 6 of such Act is amended by inserting after the item relating 7 to section 434 the following new item: 8 ‘‘Sec. 434A. Authorizing Congress to prevent appointment through resolution of disapproval.’’. SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by this 10 Act shall apply with respect to appointments of judges of 11 the District of Columbia courts which are made on or after 12 the date of the enactment of this Act. 13 (b) TRANSITION RULE FOR CURRENT NOMINEES.— 14 Section 434A of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act 15 (as added by section 3(a)) shall apply with respect to an 16 individual whose nomination as a judge of the District of 17 Columbia courts is pending as of the date of the enact- 18 ment of this Act as follows: 19 (1) In the case of an individual nominated by 20 the President under section 433 of such Act (as in 21 effect prior to the effective date of this Act), the 22 President shall be deemed to have transmitted notice 23 of the appointment of the individual as a judge of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1853.IH H1853 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1853 IH the District of Columbia courts to the Speaker of 1 the House of Representatives and the President pro 2 tempore of the Senate on the date of the enactment 3 of this Act. 4 (2) In the case of an individual nominated by 5 the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Com- 6 mission under section 434 of such Act (as in effect 7 prior to the effective date of this Act), the Commis- 8 sion shall be deemed to have transmitted notice of 9 the appointment of the individual as a judge of the 10 District of Columbia courts to the Speaker of the 11 House of Representatives and the President pro 12 tempore of the Senate on the date of the enactment 13 of this Act. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1853.IH H1853 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS