Let’s take a closer look at the problem.
Almost a fifth of the high court’s benches, or 12 of 62 seats, are vacant, according to an internal high court document called the Judicial Vacancy Impact Statement that I obtained.
Staffing problems have only worsened this year, with several people leaving the court, including one judge who will retire in February. Meanwhile, 10 judicial nominees are pending in the Senate, and there are two seats without a nominee from the White House.
Several factors are contributing to the paper logjam and caseload. Below is an excerpt from the vacancy impact statement. I quote them at length to understand the depth and complexity of the issue.
- “Juvenile crime is on the rise, and speedy trial laws often require judges to double or triple trial dates to comply. Only two judges are assigned to the calendar. “The number of pending juvenile cases in 2023 exceeded 500. Additionally, the nature of juvenile crimes has become more violent, resulting in courts The number of initial trials and probable cause hearings when considering detention of juveniles in delinquent cases is increasing.
- “Since 2022, the criminal division has seen a 54% increase in the number of felony filings. Over the same period, misdemeanor filings have increased by 67% and traffic cases prosecuted by the D.C. Attorney General’s Office have increased by 10%. .”
- “Due to the judicial shortage, the criminal division has had to double the load on the misdemeanor calendar. Previously there were seven full-time calendar members, now there are four, with three associate judges and a rotating staff. A senior judge will be in charge.”
- “There were 8,427 new cases filed in the family court division in 2023. Remarkably, domestic relations cases are never truly resolved, with 3,497 subsequent filings in family court divisions in 2023. It will be submitted to the relevant department and the judge will essentially have to re-examine the matter after the initial resolution of these cases.”
- “Due to judicial deficiencies and the related increase in domestic relations cases, disposition times are increasing for a significant portion of matters related to important life-changing topics such as custody, child support, and family property. .”
- “Involuntary civil litigation claims have skyrocketed. Due to the pandemic and brief recession, people with mental illness have experienced increased homelessness and loss of structural support from family and core service agencies.” I experienced it.”
- “Over the past decade, the caseload of domestic violence units has more than doubled. In 2023, the four judges were assigned 6,346 new cases, some of which were sensitive The case involved extreme risk protection orders and temporary protection orders, which require same-day sentencing and are often of a volatile nature.One of the four domestic violence judges is scheduled to retire at the end of February. .”
- “If no new judge is appointed, there will only be one judge in the two courts handling misdemeanor domestic violence cases, and that judge’s workload will double to approximately 30 to 60 cases per day. The result is longer wait times for litigants. Significant delays in hearings and resolution of domestic violence cases.”
- “Due to unfilled vacancies, the Civil Division has not been able to place judicial officers on each calendar for nearly all of the past seven years. Divided and processed in parallel with their respective full-time duties, the capacity of judicial officers and their staff is stretched beyond levels experienced since the Court’s inception.”
- “With not enough judges in the civil division, the court will need to direct the necessary additional judicial resources to the Landlord and Tenant Branch to alleviate delays and backlogs in housing and eviction cases, a critical need citywide.” We are no longer able to invest in the pandemic.”
- “In the Probate and Tax Division, our four associate judges handle over 10,000 probate cases and over 3,000 tax cases each year, not including post-conviction criminal matters. The number of cases has exceeded 3,200.
The list of burdens goes on.
So are all the ugly and horrible forms of crime. So are the taunts from the Capitol and the cheap shots that suggest city leaders are oblivious to the unrest in the streets. The flood of arrests and indictments flooding the courts suggests otherwise.
Until now, we haven’t heard much about judicial emergencies paralyzing our court system, but this is a danger of the Senate and Biden himself. The D.C. court system cannot function without judges. The bench is empty. White House and Senate, please do your part. Do your duty.