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1 [1] (June 12, 2017)

handle is hein.crs/govcfxx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: FF. ' -iE ,E .$r, i , June 12, 2017 Congressional Authorization of New U.S. Circuit and District Court Judgeships Congress, pursuant to its authority in Article III, Sec. 1 of the U.S. Constitution, determines through legislative action the size and structure of the federal judiciary. Congress first exercised this power with the passage of the Judiciary Act of 1789, creating a three-tiered judiciary that forms the basis for the modern structure comprised of U.S. district courts (i.e., the federal trial courts), U.S. circuit courts of appeals, and the Supreme Court. Although the Constitution provides Congress in Article I with the authority to create a variety of judgeships and courts (e.g., Congress established the bankruptcy courts in 1978), the focus of the information below is about the most common types of judgeships created by Congress-those for U.S. circuit and district courts. U.S. circuit and district courts are referred to as Article III courts because Congress created these courts pursuant to its authority in Article III of the U.S. Constitution. Judges appointed to these courts must be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Appointments to these judgeships are considered to be effective for life, meaning judges remain in office until they die, assume senior status, resign, retire, or are removed by Congress through the process of impeachment. When increasing the number of U.S. circuit or district court judgeships, Congress may authorize either permanent or temporary judgeships. The creation of a permanent judgeship, as the name suggests, permanently increases the number of judgeships on a U.S. circuit or district court. In contrast, temporary judgeships are designed to increase the number of judgeships on such courts for a limited period of time. In authorizing a temporary judgeship, Congress may choose any length of time it deems appropriate for the judgeship to exist. Congress may consider it desirable to temporarily increase the number of judgeships on a particular court if the court is dealing with an increased workload considered temporary in nature (e.g., when a court's workload temporarily spikes as a result of new federal legislation or a recent Supreme Court ruling). Congress might also be uncertain about whether an increase of a court's workload is temporary or permanent in nature and, thus, Congress might initially decide to authorize one or more temporary judgeships to meet the workload demands of the court. Temporary judgeships can later be extended by Congress (so as not to lapse after the specified period of time in the authorizing statute has expired) or be converted into permanent judgeships. While Congress creates temporary judgeships relatively frequently for U.S. district courts, the authorization of temporary U.S. circuit court judgeships is relatively rare. Between 1960 and 2016, Congress created temporary circuit court judgeships on one occasion (and each of the judgeships was later converted to permanent judgeships). M ,'mbe.-ofA U,&. C'ir,, ,i' vd, Dist,,-'c, The combined number of all U.S. circuit and district court judgeships has increased by nearly a factor of 3.5 from 1945, the beginning of the post-War period, to 2016. In 1945, there were a combined total of 248 U.S. circuit and district court judgeships-while in 2016, there were a combined total of 852 such judgeships (including 10 temporary district court judgeships). District court judgeships during this period increased from 189 to 673 (a 256% increase). Circuit court judgeships increased from 59 to 179 (a 203% increase). While the number of circuit and district court judgeships has increased since 1945, relatively few new judgeships have been authorized since 1990. No new circuit court judgeships have been authorized since 1990, while 28 new district court judgeships have been authorized. §',QDi 'Ot E N'2i Used to ukhre Congress may choose to create many judgeships at one time or, instead, create relatively few. There are various legislative vehicles that Congress has at its disposal when choosing to authorize additional judgeships. If Congress chooses to create a relatively large number of judgeships at one time, it may use an omnibus judgeships bill. An omnibus judgeship bill is either a stand-alone bill or a title of a larger bill concerned exclusively, or in large part, with the creation of federal judgeships. Since 1977, Congress has enacted three omnibus judgeship bills: the Omnibus Judgeship Act of 1978 (which created 25 new circuit court judgeships and 117 new district court judgeships); the Bankruptcy Amendments and Federal Judgeship Act of 1984 (which created 24 new circuit judgeships and 61 new district judgeships); and the Judicial Improvements Act of 1990 (which created 11 circuit judgeships and 61 new district judgeships). In more recent years, Congress has created a smaller number of new judgeships using appropriations bills: the Judiciary Appropriations Act, 2000 (which created 9 district court judgeships); the Judiciary Appropriations Act, 2001 .O 'T mppm qq\ p\w gn'a', ggmm M 'M I 11LULANJILiM,

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