President Joe Biden vetoed a bill aiming to expand judgeship slots in the United States, questioning the “motivating force” behind the measure.
On Dec. 12, the Republican-led House of Representatives voted 236–173 to approve the Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved (JUDGES) Act of 2024 seeking to add 66 district court judgeships in the country. Before the vote, the White House had warned that Biden would veto the bill.
On Dec. 23, the president announced he was vetoing the bill, saying the measure “seeks to hastily add judgeships with just a few weeks left in the 118th Congress.”
The bill fails to resolve some key questions, such as how new judgeships are allocated, the president said, adding that such questions must be answered before permanent judgeships for life-tenured judges are created.
“[The bill] would create new judgeships in States where Senators have sought to hold open existing judicial vacancies,” he said. “Those efforts to hold open vacancies suggest that concerns about judicial economy and caseload are not the true motivating force behind passage of this bill now.”
Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who introduced the legislation, criticized the veto decision, calling it a “misguided decision,” in a Dec. 23 statement.
“The JUDGES Act is a fair bill with strong bipartisan support that would have created 66 judgeships over three presidential terms to address our judicial backlog,” he said. “The President is more enthusiastic about using his office to provide relief to his family members who received due process than he is about giving relief to the millions of regular Americans who are waiting years for their due process.”
According to Democrats, the bill was passed in the Senate with bipartisan support in August at a time when there was no clarity on who would win the 2024 presidential race and oversee the first batch of court appointees. Following President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory last month, the bill is no longer fair, Democrats claim.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) accused House Republicans of having delayed the passage of the bill in the chamber until the presidential election had passed. With Trump having gained victory, he would have had the power to oversee the first appointments if the bill had been signed into law.
Case Backlog
The bill came about as lawmakers raised concerns over a buildup of cases in courts.“Congress last increased the number of federal district court judgeships over 20 years ago—the longest gap since the original establishment of federal district courts in 1789,” Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) said in a March 12 statement.
There were 702,433 pending cases in federal district courts across the United States as of March 31, 2023, averaging more than 800 filings per judgeship.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said: “Lack of federal district court judges and inflated caseloads have created a dense backlog in our nation’s judicial system. As a result, cases are being delayed—with justice right along with it.”
In 1990, Biden, who was a Senate Judiciary Committee chairman at the time, sponsored legislation creating 85 new judgeships.
An additional 34 district court judgeships were created through legislation enacted between 1999 and 2003. Since then, no new district judgeships have been authorized by Congress, according to Young.
Law professor Jonathan Turley criticized Biden’s pledge to veto the JUDGES Act in a Dec. 20 post on social media platform X.
“They would rather undermine the court system than allow Trump to appoint more judges,” he wrote. “It is a move that dispenses with any pretense of seeking bipartisan solutions and putting politics aside for the best interest of the country. With lengthening dockets causing delays and hardships, it is a cynical and sad moment for Biden and his allies.”
Biden recently confirmed his 235th federal judicial nominee, surpassing the 234 nominations made by Trump during his first term in office.
