JUDGES Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4779 To authorize additional district judges for the district courts and convert temporary judgeships. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER 1, 2020 Mr. YOUNG introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To authorize additional district judges for the district courts and convert temporary judgeships. 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 ‘‘Judicial Understaffing 4 Delays Getting Emergencies Solved Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘JUDGES Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 7 Congress finds the following: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4779.IS S4779 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4779 IS (1) The Judicial Conference of the United 1 States requested the creation of 65 new district 2 judges in its 2019 report. 3 (2) The Judicial Conference of the United 4 States has named 42 vacancies as judicial emer- 5 gencies. 6 (3) In fiscal year 2019, there were 456,827 7 pending cases, averaging 674 per judgeship, of 8 which 15.8 percent were over 3 years old. 9 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL DISTRICT JUDGES FOR THE DISTRICT 10 COURTS. 11 (a) ADDITIONAL JUDGESHIPS.— 12 (1) 2021.—On or after January 21, 2021, the 13 President shall appoint, by and with the advice and 14 consent of the Senate— 15 (A) 2 additional district judges for the dis- 16 trict of Arizona; 17 (B) 4 additional district judges for the cen- 18 tral district of California; 19 (C) 3 additional district judges for the 20 eastern district of California; 21 (D) 2 additional district judges for the 22 northern district of California; 23 (E) 2 additional district judges for the 24 southern district of California; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4779.IS S4779 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4779 IS (F) 1 additional district judge for the dis- 1 trict of Colorado; 2 (G) 1 additional district judge for the dis- 3 trict of Delaware; 4 (H) 3 additional district judges for the 5 middle district of Florida; 6 (I) 2 additional district judges for the 7 southern district of Florida; 8 (J) 1 additional district judge for the dis- 9 trict of Idaho; 10 (K) 1 additional district judge for the 11 southern district of Indiana; 12 (L) 1 additional district judge for the 13 northern district of Iowa; 14 (M) 1 additional district judge for the dis- 15 trict of Nevada; 16 (N) 2 additional district judges for the dis- 17 trict of New Jersey; 18 (O) 1 additional district judge for the dis- 19 trict of New Mexico; 20 (P) 1 additional district judge for the east- 21 ern district of New York; 22 (Q) 1 additional district judge for the 23 southern district of New York; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4779.IS S4779 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4779 IS (R) 1 additional district judge for the east- 1 ern district of Texas; 2 (S) 1 additional district judge for the 3 southern district of Texas; and 4 (T) 3 additional district judges for the 5 western district of Texas. 6 (2) 2025.—On or after January 21, 2025, the 7 President shall appoint, by and with the advice and 8 consent of the Senate— 9 (A) 2 additional district judges for the dis- 10 trict of Arizona; 11 (B) 5 additional district judges for the cen- 12 tral district of California; 13 (C) 2 additional district judges for the 14 eastern district of California; 15 (D) 2 additional district judges for the 16 northern district of California; 17 (E) 2 additional district judges for the 18 southern district of California; 19 (F) 1 additional district judge for the dis- 20 trict of Colorado; 21 (G) 3 additional district judges for the 22 middle district of Florida; 23 (H) 1 additional district judge for the 24 northern district of Florida; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4779.IS S4779 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4779 IS (I) 1 additional district judge for the 1 southern district of Florida; 2 (J) 1 additional district judge for the 3 northern district of Georgia; 4 (K) 1 additional district judge for the 5 southern district of Indiana; 6 (L) 2 additional district judges for the dis- 7 trict of New Jersey; 8 (M) 1 additional district judge for the 9 eastern district of New York; 10 (N) 1 additional district judge for the 11 western district of New York; 12 (O) 1 additional district judge for the dis- 13 trict of Puerto Rico; 14 (P) 1 additional district judge for the east- 15 ern district of Texas; 16 (Q) 1 additional district judge for the 17 southern district of Texas; and 18 (R) 3 additional district judges for the 19 western district of Texas. 20 (b) CONVERSION OF TEMPORARY JUDGESHIPS.—The 21 existing judgeships for the district of Hawaii, the district 22 of Kansas, and the eastern district of Missouri authorized 23 by section 203(c) of the Judicial Improvements Act of 24 1990 (Public Law 101–650; 28 U.S.C. 133 note) and the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4779.IS S4779 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4779 IS existing judgeships for the northern district of Alabama, 1 the district of Arizona, the central district of California, 2 the southern district of Florida, the district of New Mex- 3 ico, the western district of North Carolina, and the eastern 4 district of Texas authorized by section 312(c) of the 21st 5 Century Department of Justice Appropriations Authoriza- 6 tion Act (Public Law 107–273, 28 U.S.C. 133 note), as 7 of the date of enactment of this Act, shall be authorized 8 under section 133 of title 28, United States Code, and 9 the incumbents in those offices shall hold the office under 10 section 133 of title 28, United States Code, as amended 11 by this Act. 12 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 13 The table contained in section 133(a) of title 28, United 14 States Code, is amended— 15 (1) by striking the items relating to Alabama 16 and inserting the following: 17 ‘‘Alabama: Northern ................................................................. 8 Middle ..................................................................... 3 Southern ................................................................. 3’’; (2) by striking the item relating to Arizona and 18 inserting the following: 19 ‘‘Arizona ................................................................. 17’’; (3) by striking the items relating to California 20 and inserting the following: 21 ‘‘California: VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4779.IS S4779 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4779 IS Northern ................................................................. 18 Eastern ................................................................... 11 Central .................................................................... 37 Southern ................................................................. 17’’; (4) by striking the item relating to Colorado 1 and inserting the following: 2 ‘‘Colorado ............................................................... 9’’; (5) by striking the item relating to Delaware 3 and inserting the following: 4 ‘‘Delaware ............................................................... 5’’; (6) by striking the items relating to Florida and 5 inserting the following: 6 ‘‘Florida: Northern ................................................................. 5 Middle ..................................................................... 21 Southern ................................................................. 21’’; (7) by striking the items relating to Georgia 7 and inserting the following: 8 ‘‘Georgia: Northern ................................................................. 12 Middle ..................................................................... 4 Southern ................................................................. 3’’; (8) by striking the item relating to Hawaii and 9 inserting the following: 10 ‘‘Hawaii .................................................................. 4’’; (9) by striking the item relating to Idaho and 11 inserting the following: 12 ‘‘Idaho .................................................................... 3’’; (10) by striking the items relating to Indiana 13 and inserting the following: 14 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4779.IS S4779 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4779 IS ‘‘Indiana: Northern ................................................................. 5 Southern ................................................................. 7’’; (11) by striking the items relating to Iowa and 1 inserting the following: 2 ‘‘Iowa: Northern ................................................................. 3 Southern ................................................................. 3’’; (12) by striking the item relating to Kansas 3 and inserting the following: 4 ‘‘Kansas .................................................................. 6’’; (13) by striking the items relating to Missouri 5 and inserting the following: 6 ‘‘Missouri: Eastern ................................................................... 7 Western .................................................................. 5 Eastern and Western ............................................. 2’’; (14) by striking the item relating to Nevada 7 and inserting the following: 8 ‘‘Nevada ................................................................. 8’’; (15) by striking the item relating to New Jer- 9 sey and inserting the following: 10 ‘‘New Jersey ........................................................... 21’’; (16) by striking the item relating to New Mex- 11 ico and inserting the following: 12 ‘‘New Mexico .......................................................... 8’’; (17) by striking the items relating to New York 13 and inserting the following: 14 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4779.IS S4779 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4779 IS ‘‘New York: Northern ................................................................. 5 Southern ................................................................. 29 Eastern ................................................................... 17 Western .................................................................. 5’’; (18) by striking the items relating to North 1 Carolina and inserting the following: 2 ‘‘North Carolina: Eastern ................................................................... 4 Middle ..................................................................... 4 Western .................................................................. 5’’; (19) by striking the item relating to Puerto 3 Rico and inserting the following: 4 ‘‘Puerto Rico .......................................................... 8’’; and 5 (20) by striking the items relating to Texas and 6 inserting the following: 7 ‘‘Texas: Northern ................................................................. 12 Southern ................................................................. 21 Eastern ................................................................... 10 Western .................................................................. 19’’. SEC. 4. GAO REPORT ON VACANT AND UNDERUTILIZED 8 COURTHOUSES. 9 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 10 of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 11 shall make publicly available a report identifying Federal 12 courthouses that are vacant or underused. 13 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 14 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 15 as may be necessary to carry out this Act and the amend- 16 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4779.IS S4779 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4779 IS ments made by this Act, including such sums as may be 1 necessary to provide appropriate space and facilities for 2 the judicial positions created by this Act or an amendment 3 made by this Act. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4779.IS S4779 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS