Senators Urge Judiciary Committee Chairman
to Take Action on Measure to Add Federal Judges
Along Southwest Border

Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and six of her colleagues today urged Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) to hold a hearing on bipartisan legislation to authorize 18 new judgeships in the five U.S. District Courts along the Southwest Border, including eight judgeships in the San Diego area.

The letter was cosigned by Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Jeff Bingaman (R-Alabama), Pete Domenici (R-New Mexico) and Phil Gramm (R-Texas). Senators Feinstein and Hutchison introduced the legislation, the Southwest Border Judgeship Act (S 147), on January 23, 2001.

The Senators write, "Action on this legislation is desperately needed because the Federal courts on the Southwest border are withering under a caseload crisis. Over the past few years, the Federal government has dramatically increased the personnel of the INS, Customs, and the U.S. Marshals Service to prosecute illegal immigration and to combat drug trafficking on the border. Meanwhile, the personnel needs of the judiciary have been neglected. The result is a grave imbalance. Stepped-up law enforcement efforts have flooded the courts with new cases, but there are simply not enough judges to hear them."

Today, the five border districts of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas handle 31 percent of the total Federal judicial criminal caseload in the country.

The letter to Senator Leahy from the Senators is attached.

# # #

The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy
Chairman
United States Senate Judiciary Committee
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Chairman Leahy:

We write to request that the Judiciary Committee mark-up S.147, the Southwest Border Judgeship Act, when the Senate returns in September from the summer recess.
S. 147 would carry out the United States Judicial Conference's request for nine new permanent and nine temporary judgeships on the Southwest border.

Action on this legislation is desperately needed because the Federal courts on the Southwest border are withering under a caseload crisis. Over the past few years, the Federal government has dramatically increased the personnel of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Customs, and the U.S. Marshals Service to prosecute illegal immigration and to combat drug trafficking on the border. Meanwhile, the personnel needs of the judiciary have been neglected. The result is a grave imbalance. Stepped-up law enforcement efforts have flooded the courts with new cases, but there are simply not enough judges to hear them.

At present, the five border districts in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas handle 31 percent of the total Federal judicial criminal caseload in the country. These courts are bursting at the seams.

We want to briefly describe the difficulties faced by each of these courts.

Southern District of California: The Southern District of California ranks as the busiest court in the nation in terms of total cases filed, trials, felony cases filed and weighted caseload per judgeship. Its weighted caseload of 978 cases per judgeship is well over 200 percent of the national average.

Congress has not authorized a new judgeship for the district since 1990. Meanwhile, just in the past seven years, felony drug cases in the Southern District of California have doubled and immigration cases have increased 600 percent. Basic issues of court safety have emerged as the understaffed court is handling increasing numbers of criminals with violent or serious criminal histories.

District of Arizona: The court's weighted filings are 643 per judgeship, making Arizona the seventh busiest district in the country. The criminal caseload in Arizona has increased 135 percent since 1995. The increase in criminal filings is almost entirely driven by immigration cases, which comprised 31% of the criminal caseload in 1996 and now account for 57% of the criminal caseload.

District of New Mexico: The district is ranked third nationally with weighted filings of 801 cases per judgeship. Weighted filings are now 86 percent above the Judicial conference standard of 430 cases per judgeship. Again, criminal case filings are overwhelming the district. Drug cases have increased by 50 percent since 1998 and drug cases have doubled since 1998.

Western District of Texas: The weighted caseload in Texas stands at 950 cases, which is second only to the Southern District of California. The caseload of the district has increased 74 percent since 1995, almost all in the criminal docket where filings have grown 240 percent. Immigration cases have risen 50 percent since 1998 and drug prosecutions have grown 24 percent since 1998.

Southern District of Texas: The district's weighted filings of 613 cases per judgeship makes it the ninth busiest court in the country. The criminal docket has risen by 73 percent since 1996. Immigration cases have risen 26 percent since 1998, and drug cases have risen by 16 percent.

Once again, we urge the Judiciary Committee to mark-up S. 147 when the Senate reconvenes in September. This legislation is needed to ensure that the residents of the Southwest border states retain meaningful access to the Federal courts.

Thank you for your attention to this request.

Sincerely,

Senator Dianne Feinstein
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
Senator Jon Kyl Senator Barbara Boxer
Senator Jeff Bingaman
Senator Pete Domenici
Senator Phil Gramm