The Republican-led House of Representatives approved a bill on Dec. 12 to expand the number of seats in the federal judiciary.
The bill, known as the Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved (JUDGES) Act of 2024, would add 66 district court judgeships nationwide.
Under the bill, the additions would occur incrementally, with the last wave of judgeships being authorized in 2035.
The 236–173 vote comes shortly before President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office in January.
Trump’s recent electoral win allows him to continue reshaping the judiciary after adding a substantial number of judges during his first term of office.
“Hastily adding judges with just a few weeks left in the 118th Congress would fail to resolve key questions, especially regarding how the judges are allocated,” the White House said in a statement.
It also pointed to “efforts by some senators to hold open existing judicial vacancies” as evidence that judicial economy and caseload management were not the primary motivations for the bill’s passage.
Democrats contend that the bipartisan support that propelled the JUDGES Act through the Senate in August was predicated on the assumption that neither party knew which presidential candidate would oversee the first batch of appointments.
With Trump’s victory, the bill’s fairness has been compromised, according to Democrats.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, accused Republicans of delaying the bill until after the election to ensure that their preferred candidate benefited.
“Now here they are today, during the narrow window when the central premise behind the JUDGES Act is broken, trying to force this bill through the House on a partisan basis,” Nadler said.
Following the bill’s passage, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said: “The Biden–Harris administration has chosen to issue a veto threat and Democrats have whipped against this bill, standing in the way of progress, simply because of partisan politics.
“This should not be a political issue—it should be about prioritizing the needs of the American people and ensuring the courts are able to deliver fair, impartial, and timely justice.”
“Congress has not created a new District 11 court judgeship since 2003,” the bill reads.
According to the bill, district courts have seen a 30 percent increase in filings since the last comprehensive legislation, with 686,797 pending cases as of March 31, 2023.
The court system faced an average of “491 weighted case filings per judgeship over a 12-month period,” according to the bill.
In its 2023 request, the Judicial Conference said it generally required that average to be more than 430 weighted filings. For fiscal year 2022, the number exceeded 500 in 17 courts, 600 in eight courts, and 700 in three courts.
Lawmakers in both chambers have cited the increasing number of cases filed in district courts.
According to the Justice Department, the nation has 94 district or trial courts and more than 670 seats for district court judges.
Above those courts are 13 appeals courts, which are divided into 12 federal circuits covering specified regions of the country, and the 13th Federal Circuit Court, which hears only specialized cases.
Biden has nominated 241 judges, and the Senate has confirmed 231.
President Barack Obama saw 160 confirmations across his two terms as president.
