[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2420 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2420

  To amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to provide for the 
  automatic appointment of judges to the District of Columbia courts 
 without the advice and consent of the Senate, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 20, 2023

Mr. Carper (for himself, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Cardin, and Mr. 
    Booker) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to provide for the 
  automatic appointment of judges to the District of Columbia courts 
 without the advice and consent of the Senate, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``District of Columbia Courts Judicial 
Vacancy Reduction Act''.

SEC. 2. AUTOMATIC APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES TO DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURTS.

    (a) Appointments by President.--
            (1) In general.--Section 433(a) of the District of Columbia 
        Home Rule Act (sec. 1-204.33(a), D.C. Official Code) is amended 
        by striking ``the President shall nominate'' and all that 
        follows and inserting the following: ``from the list of persons 
        recommended by the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination 
        Commission established under section 434, the President shall 
        appoint all judges of the District of Columbia courts.''.
            (2) Conforming amendments.--Section 433 of such Act (sec. 
        1-204.33, D.C. Official Code) is further amended--
                    (A) in the heading, by striking ``nomination and'';
                    (B) in subsection (b)--
                            (i) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 
                        by striking ``nominated or'';
                            (ii) in paragraph (2), by striking ``his 
                        nomination'' and inserting ``the appointment'';
                            (iii) in paragraph (3), by striking ``his 
                        nomination'' and inserting ``the appointment'';
                            (iv) in paragraph (4), by striking ``the 
                        President, for such nomination and 
                        appointment,'' and inserting ``the President 
                        for such appointment''; and
                            (v) in paragraph (5), by striking ``his 
                        nomination'' and inserting ``the appointment''; 
                        and
                    (C) in subsection (c)--
                            (i) in the fifth sentence, by striking 
                        ``then the President may nominate'' and all 
                        that follows and inserting ``the President may 
                        reappoint such candidate as judge.'';
                            (ii) in the sixth sentence, by striking 
                        ``not to so nominate such declaring candidate, 
                        he shall nominate another candidate'' and 
                        inserting ``not to so reappoint such declaring 
                        candidate, the President shall appoint another 
                        candidate''; and
                            (iii) in the seventh sentence, by striking 
                        ``then the President shall not submit to the 
                        Senate for advice and consent the renomination 
                        of the declaring candidate as judge'' and 
                        inserting ``the President shall not reappoint 
                        the declaring candidate as judge''.
            (3) Clerical amendment.--The table of contents of such Act 
        is amended by amending the item relating to section 433 to read 
        as follows:

``Sec. 433. Appointment of judges.''.
    (b) Appointments by Judicial Nomination Commission.--Section 434(d) 
of such Act (sec. 1-204.34(d), D.C. Official Code) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) in the first sentence, by striking ``for 
                possible nomination and appointment'' and inserting 
                ``for possible appointment'';
                    (B) in the second sentence, by striking ``more than 
                one nominee'' and inserting ``more than one person'';
                    (C) in the third sentence, by striking ``of 
                nominees''; and
                    (D) in the fourth sentence--
                            (i) by striking ``the President fails to 
                        nominate, for Senate confirmation,'' and 
                        inserting ``the President fails to appoint''; 
                        and
                            (ii) by striking ``the Commission shall 
                        nominate, and with the advice and consent of 
                        the Senate, appoint'' and inserting ``the 
                        Commission shall appoint''; and
            (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ``nomination'' each place 
        it appears and inserting ``appointment''.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZING CONGRESS TO PREVENT APPOINTMENT THROUGH RESOLUTION 
              OF DISAPPROVAL.

    (a) Resolutions of Disapproval.--Part C of title IV of the District 
of Columbia Home Rule Act (sec. 1-204.31 et seq., D.C. Official Code) 
is amended by inserting after section 434 the following new section:

  ``authorizing congress to prevent appointment through resolution of 
                              disapproval

    ``Sec. 434A.  (a) Requiring Transmission of Notice of Appointment 
to Congress.--Notice of the appointment of a judge of a District of 
Columbia court under this part shall be transmitted to the Speaker of 
the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the 
Senate by--
            ``(1) the President, in the case of an appointment under 
        section 433; or
            ``(2) the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination 
        Commission, in the case of an appointment under section 
        434(d)(1).
    ``(b) Timing of Appointment.--The appointment of a judge of the 
District of Columbia courts shall take effect upon the expiration of 
the 60-calendar-day period (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, 
and any day on which neither House is in session because of an 
adjournment sine die, a recess of more than three days, or an 
adjournment of more than three days) beginning on the date on which 
notice of the appointment is transmitted to the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate under 
subsection (a), unless during such 60-calendar-day period there has 
been enacted into law a joint resolution disapproving of the 
appointment.
    ``(c) Application of Expedited Procedures for Consideration of 
Resolutions of Disapproval of Council Acts to Consideration of 
Resolutions of Disapproval of Appointment of Judges.--
            ``(1) Application of procedures.--The provisions of section 
        604 shall apply with respect to a joint resolution described in 
        paragraph (2) in the same manner and to the same extent as such 
        provisions apply to a joint resolution which is described in 
        section 604(b) and which disapproves an act of the District of 
        Columbia Council which is transmitted pursuant to section 
        602(c)(1).
            ``(2) Resolutions described.--A resolution described in 
        this paragraph is a resolution, the matter after the resolving 
        clause of which is as follows: `That the ________ disapproves 
        of the appointment of ________ as a judge of the ________.', 
        with the first blank filled in with the name of the House of 
        Congress involved, the second blank filled in with the name of 
        the individual involved, and the third blank filled in with the 
        name of the District of Columbia court involved, but does not 
        include any resolution which specifies more than one action.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents of such Act is 
amended by inserting after the item relating to section 434 the 
following new item:

``Sec. 434A. Authorizing Congress to prevent appointment through 
                            resolution of disapproval.''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    (a) In General.--The amendments made by this Act shall apply with 
respect to appointments of judges of the District of Columbia courts 
which are made on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Transition Rule for Current Nominees.--Section 434A of the 
District of Columbia Home Rule Act (as added by section 3(a)) shall 
apply with respect to an individual whose nomination as a judge of the 
District of Columbia courts is pending as of the date of the enactment 
of this Act as follows:
            (1) In the case of an individual nominated by the President 
        under section 433 of such Act (as in effect prior to the 
        effective date of this Act), the President shall be deemed to 
        have transmitted notice of the appointment of the individual as 
        a judge of the District of Columbia courts to the Speaker of 
        the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of 
        the Senate on the date of the enactment of this Act.
            (2) In the case of an individual nominated by the District 
        of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission under section 434 of 
        such Act (as in effect prior to the effective date of this 
        Act), the Commission shall be deemed to have transmitted notice 
        of the appointment of the individual as a judge of the District 
        of Columbia courts to the Speaker of the House of 
        Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate on 
        the date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>