As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid now seems poised to make good on a long-made threat to trigger the “nuclear option” to halt nonstop Republican filibusters aimed at preventing President Barack Obama to appoint ANYONE to the powerful D.C. Circuit Court, the Brennan Center for Justice reports that trial court vacancies are now higher than during President Clinton or President George Bush’s second terms. The result: an increased workload on judges and a new record on trial court vacancies:
Unusually high judicial vacancy levels coupled with unprecedented workloads are burdening federal district courts like never before. Since the Brennan Center first documented this troubling trend in Federal Judicial Vacancies: The Trial Courts in July, the total number of district court vacancies has surged from 65 to 75 open seats, an 11 percent vacancy rate, leaving federal trial courts even more under-resourced. The current vacancy level is substantially higher than what existed at the equivalent point in President Clinton’s second term (55) or President Bush’s second term (35).
For the first time since 1992, the average number of district court vacancies has been greater than 60 for five straight years, from 2009-2013. The 2013 average vacancy level currently sits at 69 vacancies (compared with 66 vacancies on June 1, 2013). The following graph details the average number of district court vacancies since 2003, the last time new judgeships were created:
And:
The vacancy gap between President Obama and President Bush’s terms in office highlights this striking contrast with past experience — and the gap has grown even larger since June.
The impact?
High vacancy levels and heavy caseloads are leaving sitting judges with unprecedented workloads. Counting both full-time active judges and part-time senior judges, the number of pending cases per sitting judge reached an all-time high in 2009 and was higher in 2012 than at any point from 1992-2007.
They offer some other graphs, so go to the link and read the rest.
The bottom line is that it’s always said elections matter, and when a new President comes in he has his chance to fill judicial vacancies. We’re now seeing how on several fronts Barack Obama’s impact on the courts is being limited.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.