Chuck Schumer plugs the idea of adding more seats to federal courts (district and appeals courts).
On Maddow:
It's a good time to do this.
The Judicial Conference (nonpartisan, oversees U.S. courts) recommended last year that Congress create 5 new judgeships on the 9th circuit + 65 new judgeships on district courts. They need help with caseloads.
Congress hasn't passed a major judgeship bill since 1990.
Since then, case filings in appeals courts grew by 15% by the end of 2018, according to the Judicial Conference. In district courts, case filings had gone up by 39%.
So what? Judges slammed with caseloads should just make it work, right?
Well, we don't want that. For some federal judges, it's leading to serious burnout, exasperation with Congress and severe delays in average Americans getting justice. huffpost.com/entry/judge-fe…
Some examples of what these delays can look like:
In a civil case, if you sue your employer for discrimination, you may have to wait years to go before a judge.
In a criminal case, a defendant may finish their jail term before their case is even resolved.
It's tough to find a federal judge who talk about this on record, or at all. I found a few in 2015.
Here's U.S. district judge Kimberly Mueller, who loves her job, but... “It’s not the pinnacle of justice for me to have 1,000 cases. Or for the litigants.” huffpost.com/entry/judge-fe…
It isn't partisan (or shouldn't be) to add seats to courts that are drowning in cases. People need the courts in their states to function.
The only partisan (and expedient) thing about doing this now is that Dems control all of govt, so they'd write the bill, list the courts getting more seats and Biden would sign it.
But lawmakers in both states need more judges on their courts. This could be a big bipartisan win.
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NEW: A spate of federal judges are retiring now that Joe Biden will pick their replacements huffpost.com/entry/federal-…
Since last Weds, when Biden was sworn in, at least 7 federal judges have announced retirement plans.
Some barely waited a day after Biden was inaugurated. Or even hours.
Got a coupla letters in here from judges announcing resignations. This one made me laugh.
“It has been my honor to serve." -- Judge Victoria Roberts to Biden, 90 *minutes* after he was sworn in, announcing she was taking senior status. Adios! huffpost.com/entry/federal-…
Days after a Capitol insurrection that left 5 people dead, and as we learn of domestic terrorism threats ahead of inauguration, I still can't wrap my head around House Republicans having a full-blown tantrum about having to walk through a metal detector. huffpost.com/entry/house-re…
What is going on here?
At best, these GOP lawmakers are embarrassingly entitled.
At worst, they’re sneaking guns onto the House floor and don't want to get caught -- and terrifying their colleagues in the meantime.
These are actual quotes from House Republicans reacting to have to walk through a metal detector to get onto the House floor.
“Horse shit!”
“You are creating a problem you do not understand the ramifications of!”
The 147 Republicans who still voted to overturn the election results after the Capitol insurrection. huffpost.com/entry/republic…
I still can't wrap my head around this.
Hours after Trump incited his supporters to violently storm the Capitol, with plans to kill Nancy Pelosi and others, 147 GOP lawmakers still voted to overturn the election -- citing the same lies about fraud fueling the rioters.
There will be so many investigations into the violence and terror unleashed at the Capitol on Wednesday.
But one of the most egregious attacks on democracy happened in plain sight and requires no investigation. It was these 147 lawmakers' votes. huffpost.com/entry/republic…
The more time we have to process what happened Wednesday, and the more details that come out, the more clear it becomes that this could have been so, so, so much worse.
It could have been a massacre in the Capitol.
With the House Speaker and U.S. Vice President as key targets.
So many horrifying details coming out. From a readout from Rep. Jason Crow's phone call today with Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy:
"A greater disaster was narrowly averted."
It's also becoming clear, in case it wasn't obvious, how totally unprepared federal law enforcement was for a Capitol terrorist attack.
"Due to a lack of coordination and preparation, there was not a functioning operations center in the Pentagon to manage the Guard presence..."