Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions S. 1561

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

S. 1561. A bill to preserve existing judgeships on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia; to the Committee on Governmental Affairs.

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, today I am introducing a bill that would preserve existing seats on the District of Columbia Superior Court. I am pleased to be joined in this effort by Senators VOINOVICH and DURBIN.

The Superior Court is the local court of general jurisdiction in the District of Columbia. The Associate Judges on the Court are selected through a two-step review process. When a vacancy on the Court occurs, usually because of a retiring judge, the District of Columbia Judicial Nominations Commission, solicits applicants to fill the vacancy. They narrow the possible number of candidates to three and send those three names to the President. The President then selects one of those three candidates to nominate and sends the nominee to the Senate for confirmation. Existing law caps the total number of judges on the Superior Court at 59.

Recently, I was informed that nominations, currently pending in the Committee on Governmental Affairs, and an additional candidate expected to be nominated in the coming months, may not be able to be seated on the Court, even if they are confirmed by the Senate. The three seats that these candidates are intended to fill were left open by retiring judges, so they are not new seats on the Court. The cause of this unusual problem is the District of Columbia Family Court Act, enacted last Congress. That Act created three new seats for the Family Court, which is a division of the Superior Court, but failed to increase the overall cap on the number of judges seated on the Court. As a result, the Family Court Act effectively eliminated three existing seats in the other divisions of the Court, including the criminal and civil divisions.

Because of this, the Governmental Affairs Committee currently has four nominations pending for the Superior Court, but only two seats left to fill. I also understand that there is yet another nomination expected in the coming months. Because existing law sets strict requirements on both the D.C. Judicial Nominations Commission as well as the White House on how quickly they must process potential candidates and make a nomination, it is unclear whether they have legal grounds to halt their processes. Nor is it clear as to whether, had they known of this problem, they would have had the power to not make the nominations they have already made.

This is a highly unusual situation. Mr. President, for this body to have nominations pending before it for which there are no open positions. The bill I introduce today would rectify this problem by amending the District of Columbia Code to increase the cap on the number of Associate Judges on the Superior Court. This is not intended to create new seats on the Court; that was already done when the D.C. Family Court Act was enacted. Instead, this would preserve existing seats on the Court and remedy a problem that is effecting not only the Court, but the Senate as well. I believe that it is also
important to not only remedy the immediate problem before the Senate, but also to ensure that all of the divisions of the Superior Court are fully staffed. This is more than just a procedural issue. It is also important for the citizens of the District of Columbia to know that all of the divisions, including criminal and civil, are operating at full capacity. Eliminating existing seats in the criminal and civil divisions will not improve the administration of justice in the District, but can only result in increased judicial case-load and delays at the Courthouse.