Rep. Jim Costa speaks about The Case Load Act of 2023 on Friday at the federal courthouse in Fresno. He is flanked by (from left) Shane Smith, Craig Houghton and retired Judge Anthony Ishii. Photo by Alex Scott

Rep. Jim Costa (D-Fresno) met with members of the media Friday to discuss The Case Load Act of 2023.

The legislation is in response to the severe lack of judgeships for the federal Eastern District of California, which currently has only one judge for every 1,362,552 residents — by far the highest in the state, Costa said.

The Eastern District covers 34 counties, stretching from Redding to Bakersfield, currently serving a population of approximately 8.4 million individuals. Currently, the Court has six permanent judgeships, a level that hasn’t changed since 1978. As a result, fast-growing areas of the state within the district are experiencing consistently high caseloads, Costa said.

As of June 2022, the total number of pending cases per judgeship in the Eastern District was 1,308, about 2.6 times higher than the average for all districts within the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Recently, Pres. Biden nominated one of the six judges for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, possibly creating a vacancy pending Senate confirmation — and also adding to the workload for the remaining judges. This is despite consistent requests to add five additional judgeships to the Eastern District bench to ensure timely due process, Costa said.

“To have a strong vibrant judiciary means that every American ought to be able to access the court when they so need,” said Costa.

Led by Reps. Costa and Jay Obernolte (R-Hesperia), the bipartisan legislation would create five additional judgeships for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, spacing them out over three federal elections cycles:

• Two seats available in January 2025, following the 2024 presidential election;
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• One seat made available in January 2027, following the 2026 midterms;
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• Two seats made available in January 2029, following the 2028 presidential election

 

“We hope that will engender some bipartisanship. Oftentimes whatever party is occupying the executive seat, there is a hesitation to create more opportunities for appointment of judges, but we think spreading this over three cycles will address that,” said Costa.

President of the San Joaquin Valley Federal Bar Shane Smith added that the shortage of judgeships has resulted in a backlog of cases, resulting in proceedings not moving forward.

According to Costa, the Eastern District has the capacity to seat all five judges. There is federal courtroom space in Sacramento and Fresno, as well as additional chambers in Bakersfield for work not pertaining to felony jury trials.