House votes to add federal judges despite White House veto threat

The House on Thursday passed legislation that would expand the number of federal district court judges across the country, maintaining an echo of the previously bipartisan nature of the bill.

The Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved, or JUDGES, Act would add 63 federal district court judges and three temporary federal district court judges over the next decade, aiming to put a dent in a national shortage.

While the measure breezed unanimously through the Senate last summer, fresh Democratic rancor over the timing of the legislation, and a veto threat from President Biden, means there’s only a slim likelihood the bill will become law.

Still, the measure passed in the lower chamber 236 to 173, with 29 Democrats joining nearly every Republican to send the bill to Mr. Biden’s desk. Two Republicans, Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Tim Burchett of Tennessee, voted no.

Congressional Democrats initially broadly supported the measure when it was making its way through the Senate because they believed it was the best path to removing partisanship from the judicial nomination process.

The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, argued on the floor that the initial agreement that held the bill together this year was that neither side would know who the next three presidents, who are charged with nominating judges, would be.

Mr. Nadler accused Republicans of waiting until after President-elect Donald Trump secured victory to bring the bill for a vote, breaking the deal. He was open to bringing the bill after Mr. Trump’s inauguration, when lawmakers would again not know who the next three presidents would be.

“Since we know that Donald Trump sees the federal court as nothing more than an extension of his political operation … giving him more power to [nominate] additional judges would be irresponsible,” Mr. Nadler said.

Still, new judgeships would help ease the caseload on the stressed judicial system. Congress hasn’t tried to add a new slate of judges in nearly three decades.

Filings in district courts have increased by 30% as of 2022 since the last federal district court judgeship was created. As of last spring, nearly 700,000 pending cases were in 94 district courts across the country. There are 677 district judge seats, including 10 temporary posts.

New posts are set to be created every two years, and Mr. Trump would be able to nominate up to 25 new judges, along with over 100 spots that could open up during his upcoming four-year term.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, scoffed at Mr. Nadler’s argument that Republicans waited to put the bill on the floor until Mr. Trump won.

“They just don’t like what the people did, they don’t like what the American people did; that’s their argument,” he said.