The White House announced on Dec. 10 that President Joe Biden intends to veto a bipartisan bill proposing the first significant expansion of federal district court judgeships in more than 30 years.
The legislation, known as S. 4199, or the Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved (JUDGES) Act of 2024, aims to address caseload backlogs by creating 63 permanent and three temporary judgeships phased in over a decade. The measure was passed unanimously by the Senate in August and was directed to the House for consideration, where Democrat support is waning as political dynamics have shifted post-election.
House Republicans are moving to advance the legislation before the close of the 118th Congress, but congressional Democrats argue that the measure’s timing undermines its original bipartisan intent.
The White House weighed in on the controversy on Dec. 10, issuing a statement of administration policy panning the bill as “unnecessary to the efficient and effective administration of justice.”
The statement argued that the legislation has not fully accounted for existing judicial resources, such as senior-status judges and magistrates.
The Biden administration also took issue with the timing of the legislation, noting that the House delayed consideration until after the election when Trump’s