Congress has not approved a nationwide increase in the number of federal judges since 1990, creating a shortage of judges that has increased their caseloads and the time it takes to reach trials. But that could change under bipartisan legislation that would add 66 additional judges to U.S. courts over the next decade, including 21 in California.

Judicial expansion bills have frequently been introduced under Democratic administrations and then killed by Republicans in Congress. The current measures may be more resilient because they would allow regular judicial appointments until 2033. The two main authors are Republicans.

Because of the “huge backlog in our nation's justice system … there are delays in the processing of cases – and therefore in the dispensing of justice,” said Republican Representative Darrell Issa of Vista (San Diego County) when introducing HR7597. The first hearing on the bill will take place in the Subcommittee on Courts of the House Judiciary Committee, which Issa chairs.

“Too many Indiana residents and Americans are denied access to our justice system due to an overload and shortage of judges,” said Senator Todd Young (R-Indiana) after his bill, SB2759, passed unanimously by the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month and was sent to the Senate. It is similar to Issa's bill in the House.

One of the co-authors is Senator Alex Padilla (D-California), a member of the Judiciary Committee. “The U.S. district courts in California and across the country are overloaded with pending cases and there are too few judges to hear them,” he said when introducing the bill.

According to the U.S. Judicial Conference, a group of judges that recommends guidelines for federal courts, there were 702,433 cases pending in U.S. courts as of March 2023, an average of 803 per judge.

Between 1999 and 2003, Congress approved 34 new judgeships for certain federal district courts in a series of bills. However, no legislation has been passed to increase the number of additional judges in the states since 1990, the longest such period in U.S. history, according to the Judicial Conference.

California has 58 full-time federal court judges and three vacancies, in addition to judges with “senior” status and reduced caseloads. The 21 judgeships that would be authorized by the new law include five in the Northern District of California, which has 14 full-time judges. The district is based in San Francisco and handles federal cases in the coastal zone from Monterey County to the Oregon border.

Federal judges are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The House and Senate bills were both drafted to take effect after the next presidential election, with additional judgeships planned every two years through 2033.

“Our bill is absolutely bipartisan,” Jonathan Wilcox, a spokesman for Issa, told the Chronicle. “It's a solid idea that can work.”

But the fate of the House and Senate bills could still be decided by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who often decides whether Democratic-backed bills get a hearing in committees and the House. Johnson's office did not respond to requests for comment on the judges' bills.

Reach Bob Egelko: [email protected]; Twitter: @BobEgelko