WILMINGTON, Del. – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) released the following statement after President Biden vetoed the Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved (JUDGES) Act of 2024, which would have increased the number of federal district judges in regions of the country facing a dramatic rise in caseloads:
“I am disappointed by this outcome, for my own state and for the federal judges throughout the country struggling under the burden of ever-higher caseloads. I’ve worked on this bill for years, and thanks to tireless bipartisan effort with Senator Young, it made it to the president’s desk. It’s highly unfortunate that it will not become law.
“Senator Young and I took pains to make this a nonpartisan process, structuring the JUDGES Act so that Congress could pass the bill before any of us – Republican or Democrat – knew who would occupy the White House in 2025 and therefore nominate the new federal judges. The Senate did its part by passing the bill unanimously in August; the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, however, waited for election results before moving the bill forward. As a result, the White House is now vetoing this bill.
“Regardless, I remain optimistic about returning to the drawing board next Congress to create the new federal judgeships our country so desperately needs. Some states – Delaware among them – are drowning under rising caseloads, and basing new federal judgeships on the rigorous and objective recommendations of the nonpartisan Judicial Conference of the United States will ease the burdens on their courts and restore swifter access to justice for all Americans.”
Senators Coons and Todd Young (R-Ind.) introduced the bill in April; it passed the Senate by unanimous consent in August and passed the House on Thursday, December 12.