Re-Opened for business? Caseloads, judicial vacancies, and backlog in the federal circuit courts

Judicature

Volumn 95, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 20-29

  Collins, Todd ^a  

^a WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 80052908039     PISSN: 00225800     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (60)

1. Roger A. Johnson. Judicial Manpower Problems, 328 ANNALS AM. ACD. POL. AND SOC. Sa 29, 20 (1960) (quoting Earl A. Warren, Chief Justice, Address Before the American Law Institution, April 1959).
2. See e.g. Richard A. Posner, THE FEDERAL COURTS - CHALLENGE AND REFORM 59-85 (Harvard University Press 1996).
3. See e.g. William Rehnquist, 2002 Year-End Report of the Federal Judiciary (2002), available at http://www.uscourts.gov/News/TheThirdBranch/03-01-01/2002- YEAR-END-REPORT-ON-THE-FEDERAL-JUDI-CLARY.aspx (stating "[N]o new additional court of appeals judgeships have been created since 1990 . . .[d]espite a substantial increase in workload. . . As I have noted in previous reports, to continue functioning effectively and efficiently, our federal courts must be appropriately staffed").
4. Although one circuit judgeship was moved from the District of Columbia Circuit to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in January 2008, substantial increases in the number of federal circuit judges have not occurred since 1990 when 11 new positions were created. CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF AUTHORIZED JUDGESHIPS IN THE U.S. COURTS OF APPEALS, available at http://www.uscourts.gov/ JudgesAndJudgeships/Viewer.aspx?doc=/ uscourts/judgesjudgeships/docs/ appealschronol.pdf
5. Michael Gerhardt, Judicial Selection as War, 36 U.C. DAVIS L. REV. 667, 690 (2003)
6. Roger E. Hartley and Lisa Holmes, The Increasing Senate Scrutiny of Lower Federal Court Nominees, 117 POL. SCI. Q. 259, 270-273 (2002).
7. Rehnquist supra n. 3.
8. Sheldon Goldman, Elliot Slotnick, Gerald Gryski, and Sara Schiavoni, Picking judges in a time of turmoil - W. Bush's judiciary during the 109th Congress, 90 JUDICATURE 252, 260-261 (2007)
9. Id. at 264-265.
10. See Todd Collins, Balancing the Scales or Stacking the Deck? The President's Ability to Appoint Majorities on the Circuit Courts of Appeals, 8 WHITE HOUSE STUD. 451, 461 (2008).
11. David R. Stras and Shaun M. Pettifrew, The Rising Caseload in the Fourth Circuit: A Statistical and Institutional Analysis 61 S.C. L. Rev 421, 422 (2010).
12. Posner supra n. 2, at 84.
13. Rebecca Love Kourlis, Jordan M. Singer, and Paul C. Saunders, Survey of experienced litigators finds serious cracks in U.S. civil justice system, 92 JUDICATURE 78, 78 (2008)
14. Posner supra n. 2, at 84.
15. Donald R. Songer, Reginald S. Sheehan, and Susan B. Haire, CONTINUITY & CHANGE ON THE UNITED STATES COURTS OF APPEALS 16 (Michigan Univ. Press 2000).
16. See Donald R. Songer, The Circuit Court of Appeals in THE AMERICAN COURT: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT 35-59, 47 (John B. Yates and Charles A. Johnson eds., 1990) (estimating that 99.7% of circuit court case decisions are not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court).
17. Frank B. Cross, DECISION MAKING IN THE U.S. COURTS OF APPEALS 2 (Stanford Univ. Press 2007).
18. See Posner supra n. 2, at 59-63.
19. Id. at 63.
20. See Carol Krafka, Joe S. Cecil, and Patricia Lombard, Stalking the Increase in the Rate of Federal Civil Appeals, 18 Jus. Svs.J. 233 (1996).
21. Posner, supra n. 2, at 119-120.
22. Lauren K. Robel, Caseload and Judging: Judicial Adaptations to Caseload, 1990 BYU L. Rev 1, 38 (1990), available at http://lawreview.byu.edu/ archives/1990-1.htm.
23. Jon O. Newman, Restructuring Federal Jurisdiction: Proposals to Preserve the Federal Judicial System, 55 U. CHI. L REV. 761, 762-763 (1989).
24. See Kourlis et al, supra n. 13, at 79. While the survey questions did not specifically address delays cause by judicial vacancies or caseloads, if these increase delay and delay increases costs, inevitably high caseloads may also increase costs.
25. ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF THE COURTS, FEDERAL JUDICIAL CASELOAD STATISTICS (2010) available at http://www.uscourts.gov/Statistics/ Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics. aspx.
26. Posner supra n. 2, at 64-67.
27. Id. at 67.
28. Id. at 69-70.
29. ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF THE COURTS, supra n.26.
30. Posner supra n. 2, at 67-71.
31. ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF THE COURTS, supra n.26.
32. See Stras and Pettigrew, supra n. 11, at 434.
33. Newman, supra n. 24, at 765.
34. ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF THE COURTS, U.S. COURTS OF APPEALS, ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZED JUDGESHIPS, available at http://www.uscourts.gov/ Judges And Judgeships/Viewer.aspx?doc=/ uscourts/JudgesJudgeships/docs/ authAppealsJudgeships.pdf.
35. See Newman, supra n. 24, at 766.
36. ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF THE COURTS, supra n.26.
37. See James F. Spriggs, II, and Paul J. Wahlbeck, Calling it Quits: Strategic Retirements on the Federal Courts of Appeals, 48 POL. RES. Q. 573, 588 (1995).
38. See Albert Yoon, As You Like It: Senior Federal Judges and the Political Economy of Judicial Tenure, 2 J. EMP. LEGAL STUD. 495, 527-528 (2005).
39. Sarah Binder and Forrest Malttman, Senatorial Delay in Confirming Federal Judges, 1947-1998, 46 AM. J. OF POL SCI. 190, 196 (2002).
40. ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF THE COURTS, supra n.26.
41. See Spriggs et al, supra n. 44.
42. Sheldon Goldman, Elliot Slotnick, and Sara Shiavoni, Obama's judiciary at midterm: The confirmation drama continues, 94 JUDICATURE 262 (2011).
43. See Kourlis et al, supra n. 13.
44. ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF THE COURTS, supra n.26.
45. For example, in March of 2009, the Judicial Conference recommended adding nine new fulltime positions to the circuit courts. JUDICIAL CONFERENCE JUDGESHIP RECOMMENDATIONS, available at http://www.uscourts.gov/FederalCourts/ JudicialConference/Judgeship Recommendations.aspx.
46. See Posner supra n. 2, at 132-134.
47. See Newman supra n. 24, at 763-767.
48. See David E. Klein, MAKING LAW IN THE UNITED STATES COURTS OF APPEALS 18 (Cambridge Univ. Press 2002).
49. Newman supra n. 24, at 768.
50. See Robel supra n. 23, at 14-16.
51. Newman supra n. 24, at 765.
52. See Yoon supra n. 45, at 497.
53. Retirement on Salary 28 U.S.C. § 371 (2000).
54. David R. Straus and Ryan W. Scott, Are Senior Judges Unconstitutional? 92 CORNELL L. REV. 443, 470 (2007).
55. See Yoon supra n. 45, at 512-513.
56. See Straus and Scott, supra n. 68, at 467.
57. See id. at 456.
58. See Yoon supra n. 45, at 515-516.
59. ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF THE COURTS, supra n.26.
60. See Straus and Scott, supra n. 68, at 455.