Senate Approves Five New Urgently Needed Federal
Judgeships For San Diego
December 21, 2001

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Senate last night approved legislation sponsored by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to establish five new federal judgeships in San Diego, where the federal district court faces crisis conditions because of heavy caseloads and inadequate staffing.

"I am extremely pleased this bill was approved. There is no court in America that is more deserving of these additional judges, whose caseload is higher and whose litigation is more complex and difficult than San Diego," Senator Feinstein said. "This is the most overworked, understaffed court in the United States. The local judges have gone so far as to publicly warn Congress that if new judgeships are not created, there is a 'substantial risk' of calamity."

The provision sponsored by Senator Feinstein was part of the Department of Justice authorization bill. This legislation will now be subject to a conference committee, which will work out differences between the two Houses of Congress. Once an agreement is reached the legislation will be returned to the Senate and House for final passage.

In all, the amendment would create 8 new permanent judgeships:

It would also convert two temporary judgeships in Illinois into permanent judgeships; create one new temporary judgeship in the Western District of North Carolina, and extend the temporary judgeship in the Northern District of Ohio by five years.

Senator Feinstein noted that the federal court in San Diego has a weighted caseload of 978 cases per judgeship in calendar year 2000, the highest in the country, and more than double the national average. It also has the heaviest criminal caseload, with an average weighted average caseload of 468 cases per judges, more than 500% above the national average of 74 cases per judge. And in civil cases, many of the judges no longer hear oral arguments; they base their opinions solely on written briefs. "We pride ourselves as a nation of laws. But, our laws are only vital and strong when we give the judicial branch adequate resources to administer them," Senator Feinstein said. "As Marilyn Huff, Chief Judge of the Southern District, has said: 'There's a certain point where you can't cut corners any more, you can't work any harder, and we've reached that point.'"

Since 1995 Congress has focused significant resources to crack down on illegal immigration and drug trafficking on the Southwest Border, contributing greatly to the increased caseload in the Southern District Court.

In the San Diego area, U.S. Customs intercepts 30 percent of all illicit drugs coming into the country. It is where an estimated half of the nation's cocaine enters the United States, and where federal marshals made 40 percent of all their vehicle seizures last year.

As a result of stepped-up enforcement, from March 1994 through March 1999, criminal case filings in Southwestern border courts increased by 125% (from 6,460 to 14,517), drug prosecutions in these same districts increased by 189% (from 2,864 to 5,414), and immigration prosecutions by 431% (from 1,056 to 5,614).

Yet the Southern District of California has not received any new judges since 1990. Thus, the eight judges who struggled to handle 1,200 felony cases in 1994, handled 3,900 in 1999.