House sends Biden bill adding judicial seats after veto threat

The House approved a bill Thursday that would create dozens of additional judicial seats over the next several years, sending it to President Biden’s desk after his administration levied a veto threat.

The measure — titled the Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved (JUDGES) Act — cleared the chamber in a 236-173 vote, after the Senate unanimously passed the bill in August.

The legislation, which has bipartisan sponsorship, would establish 66 federal court seats over the next decade in an effort to decrease caseloads in jurisdictions with high volumes such as California and Texas.

The legislation now heads to Biden, who earlier this week said he would veto the bill should it land on his desk. In a statement of administrative policy, the White House questioned the motivation behind the measure.

“The bill would create new judgeships in states where Senators have sought to hold open existing judicial vacancies,” the statement reads. “Those efforts to hold open vacancies suggest that concerns about judicial economy and caseload are not the true motivating force behind passage of this bill now.”

The administration also accused Congress of not completely exploring “how the work of senior status judges and magistrate judges affects the need for new judgeships,” and questioned the timing of House GOP leadership scheduling a vote.

“Further, the Senate passed this bill in August, but the House refused to take it up until after the election. Hastily adding judges with just a few weeks left in the 118th Congress would fail to resolve key questions in the legislation, especially regarding how the judges are allocated,” the White House said.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), for his part, lauded the legislation as a way to increase “impartial justice.”

“We can't overburden the courts and our judges with these excessive caseloads, and that's what's been happening,” he said at a press conference this week. “More judges means more Americans can access equal and impartial justice without waiting years to get it. I'm excited to see this bill pass.”

Biden has vetoed 12 measures over his four years in the presidency, none of which were overridden by Congress. To override a presidential veto, two-thirds of both chambers must support the legislation.

The last time Congress overrode a veto was during the Trump administration in 2021 in favor of a defense bill.

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