Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
A bipartisan bill co-authored by Indiana Republican Senator Todd Young has passed unanimously in the U.S. Senate and is now heading to the House of Representatives, as Congress looks to address judicial shortages in federal courts.
Young and Chris Coons (D-Del.) coauthored the Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved (JUDGES) Act of 2024.
According to a new release from Young’s office, the JUDGES Act would address judicial emergencies and shortages across the country by increasing the number of federal district judges in the most overworked regions of the country, including the Southern District of Indiana.
“Too many Hoosiers and Americans are being denied access to our justice system due to an overload of cases and a shortage of judges. Our bipartisan bill will help alleviate this shortage and ensure all Americans have the opportunity to have their day in court,” said Young in a news release. “Senator Coons and I have worked diligently with our colleagues to ensure this legislation effectively addresses these judicial shortages and fairly distributes the additional judgeships across multiple presidential administrations. The Senate’s unanimous support is a testament to bipartisanship and common-sense legislating. I urge the House to pass this important legislation so that it can become law as soon as possible.”
Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond School of Law professor, previously told Indiana Lawyer that he heard in early May there is interest in passing the bill on both sides of the aisle in Congress.
Friday, Tobias said he thought Young deserves enormous credit for doggedly and tirelessly working on a judgeships bill for many years that the federal judiciary desperately needs in order to comply with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 1, which urges the expeditious, inexpensive and fair resolution of disputes.
Tobias added that Coons helped move the final bill across the finish line.
He said he thought the prospects are very good for passage in the House, because all senators agreed on the bill and an election year makes it possible.
“Both parties have opposed bills in the past because they do not want the sitting president of the opposition party to have more posts to fill. Some GOP members may oppose the bill, but no one knows who will be the new president and have a Senate majority before the elections,” Tobias said in an email.
Young first introduced the legislation in 2020 and re-introduced it in 2021 and 2023.
The JUDGES Act would act on the findings in the nonpartisan 2023 Judicial Conference of the United States report by creating the recommended 66 new judgeships, including one in the Southern District of Indiana, during future presidential administrations.
Additionally, the bipartisan bill includes new transparency requirements and provisions to ensure greater access to justice in certain high-need areas of the country.
As of March 31, 2023, there were 686,797 pending cases in federal district courts across the country, averaging 491 filings per judgeship over a 12-month period.
The Southern District of Indiana would be part of the first tranche of the newly-created judgeships under this bill.
Tobias said the federal judicial confirmation process seems to be back on track after some slowing partly due to summer and breaks like July 4, another week that the Senate was out, and the overall political turmoil this summer.
He noted that this week, the Senate confirmed three district judge nominees, President Joe Biden nominated three more nominees, the Senate judiciary committee had a hearing for one circuit court judge and four district judge nominees, and approved two more circuit and five district nominees.
Tobias said that when the Senate returns from August recess after Labor Day, there will be more than 20 nominees on the floor ready to be confirmed.
The law professor said he is cautiously optimistic that there will soon be a nominees for the Indiana Southern District vacancy created by Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson taking senior status in July, especially because the Indiana senators have been so diligent about cooperating with Biden to find nominees whom they and Biden can support.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.