Biden Threatens to Veto Bill to Add More Federal Judges

WASHINGTON -- Congress approved a bill last week to add 66 new federal judgeships across the nation but might have acted too late to avoid a veto.

President Joe Biden initially supported the bill when the Senate approved it in August. At the time, Kamala Harris was leading in some polls, meaning Democrats were most likely to be empowered to nominate the new judges next year.

Then Donald Trump won the election, meaning the appointments will shift to Republicans.

Biden’s veto threat appears to be timed to prevent Trump from gaining the right to make the appointments.

In the first major expansion of the federal judiciary in more than three decades, 25 federal court districts would get more judges under the Judges Act.

The bill passed the Senate unanimously during the summer in a rare show of bipartisanship. The House passed it by a smaller margin last week.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, explained Democrats’ change of opinion.

“The Senate passed the bill in early August, and the House had plenty of time to take it up before November. Instead, House Republicans stonewalled bipartisan efforts to move the legislation, and it changed the political environment completely,” a statement from Durbin’s office said.

No one disputes the need for more judges. The Judicial Conference reported this year that in the past two decades, the number of civil cases pending for more than three years in federal courts increased 346 percent. The Judicial Conference is the policymaking branch of federal courts.

If Biden vetoes the Judges Act, it could be reintroduced next year but with a likelihood of significant differences.

Republicans would control the House, the Senate and the presidency. They are pledging big changes to the judicial branch of government, beginning with the FBI and continuing into the court system.

The issue bears special significance for the District of Columbia, which is suffering from a shortage of judges. Fifteen percent of the 62 judgeships allocated by Congress to the District of Columbia are vacant.

Each of the D.C. judges must be nominated by the president and approved by the Senate. If they are appointed by Trump, the D.C. judiciary would most likely shift to a more Republican posture.

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