[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 68 (Wednesday, May 12, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5156-S5157]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. EDWARDS:
  S. 1018. A bill to provide for the appointment of additional Federal 
district judges in the State of North Carolina, and for other purposes; 
to the Committee on the Judiciary.

[[Page S5157]]

                 Justice for Western North Carolina Act

  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Justice for 
Western North Carolina Act--legislation that will create an additional 
permanent district court judgeship and an additional temporary district 
court judgeship in the Western District of North Carolina.
  The Western District of North Carolina is one of the most overworked 
districts in the United States. And it is strained almost to the 
breaking point. The statistics tell the tale: its judges have the 
heaviest caseload of all the district courts in the Fourth Circuit. 
That means of all the district court judges working in Maryland, 
Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina--no other 
judges have a more crushing workload. Indeed, they deal with a caseload 
almost twice that recommended for any federal judge. The nonpartisan 
Judicial Conference of the United States, the principal policymaking 
body for the federal court system, believes that no judge should handle 
more than 430 weighted case filings. Well, the judges in the Western 
District have a weighted filing per judge of 703.
  The people of western North Carolina feel the impact of this burden. 
Criminal felony cases take longer to deal with in western North 
Carolina than any other district in the country but two. And businesses 
have to wait almost two years to have their lawsuits heard before a 
jury. Business disputes, Social Security claims, civil rights 
disputes--all of them are needlessly delayed when we in the Senate fail 
to fulfill our responsibility to ensure the prompt administration of 
justice.
  Three able Western District Court judges are doing their utmost to 
deal with this deluge. But they need our help. And we have failed to 
address the need sooner. It has been more than twenty years since 
Congress authorized the Western District's third judgeship. In 1978, 
there were 775 raw case filings. Last year, there were more than 7,000. 
It is folly to think that three judges should be able to handle the 
nearly tenfold increase in case filings in the Western District.
  Nor is there any relief from a growing caseload in sight. North 
Carolina is in the midst of a population boom. Since the 1990 census, 
the state's population grew by 12%. The Charlotte metropolitan area, 
which is in the western district of North Carolina, grew by 19 percent 
since 1990, making it the tenth fastest growing region in the country 
during this period. This growth in population, business, and industry 
translates into more commercial, corporate, and criminal law cases.

  Mr. President, more than any other justice system in the world, ours 
provides fair and equal administration of justice. We put this at risk 
when we do not have enough judges. When judges are overworked, they may 
be unable to give each case the attention it deserves. The maxim that 
``justice delayed is justice denied'' is absolutely true. Slow justice 
does not just affect the litigants. With commercial cases involving 
major corporations, it can also hurt employees and consumers, as well. 
Moreover, we cheapen the Constitution when we fail to authorize the 
resources necessary for the federal judiciary--one of the three, 
coequal branches of government--to adequately serve society. Congress 
must respect the principle of an independent federal judiciary by 
ensuring that federal judges are not so consumed by the backlog of 
cases that they are not able to give the cases that come before them 
the attention they deserve.
  The legislation I propose puts into effect the recent recommendation 
made by the Judicial Conference. The Judicial Conference works to 
ensure that the federal judiciary delivers equal justice under law. On 
March 16 of this year, it recommended that we add one permanent and one 
temporary judgeship in the Western District of North Carolina. The 
Chief Justice serves as the presiding officer of the nonpartisan 
Judicial Conference. The membership of the Conference includes the 
chief judges of the 13 courts of appeals, a district judge from each of 
the 12 geographic circuits, and the chief judge of the Court of 
International Trade.
  No one, at least no one I know, disagrees that the Western District 
is overworked. But some people have proposed the misguided solution of 
eliminating a judgeship from the Eastern District of North Carolina and 
transferring it to the Western District. I think that eliminating a 
judge from the Eastern District would be a real mistake, as big a 
mistake as not creating new judgeships in the Western District. The 
proposal is simply robbing Peter to pay Paul.
  Eliminating a judgeship from the Eastern District would leave it in 
the same painful position that the Western District is in now. Last 
year, the Eastern District had 2056 weighted filings, or 514 for each 
of its four judgeships, easily above the national average of 484. 
Taking away a judgeship from the Eastern District would result in a 
weighted caseload per judge of 685. Transferring a judgeship from the 
Eastern to the Western District would do no more than switch the 
problem from the west to the east.

  I am also very concerned about the effect this elimination would have 
on Raleigh and the many people and companies who are based there and 
depend on the federal judiciary. For the last twenty years, at least 
one Eastern District judgeship has been filled by a judge presiding in 
Raleigh. Today, however, the three active judges in the Eastern 
District reside in Elizabeth City, Greenville, and Wilmington, and most 
of the Eastern District's court sessions are held in those cities. It 
is important that those areas have judges, but it is also important 
that there be a judge in Raleigh. If we transfer the unfilled judgeship 
to the west, we will do serious harm to our state capital.
  Raleigh is the home of the main offices of the U.S. Attorney, the 
Federal Public Defender for the Eastern District, the Clerk of Court, 
the United States Probation Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation 
for the Eastern District, and the North Carolina Department of Justice. 
In addition, many private lawyers who handle civil and criminal cases 
in the Eastern District come from Raleigh. Finally, the Raleigh 
metropolitan area, which has more than one million people, is the fifth 
fastest growing urban area in the nation--swelling by 26 percent since 
1990. Eliminating a judgeship based in Raleigh would create unnecessary 
obstacles to the pursuit of fair administration of justice in that 
city.
  Mr. President, the marble facade on the Supreme Court building says, 
``Equal Justice Under Law.'' We in the Congress must not jeopardize 
this principle by failing to provide the judiciary the resources it 
needs to do its work. Therefore, I urge your support of the Justice for 
Western North Carolina Act.
  I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the legislation be printed in 
the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1018

       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 ``Justice for Western North 
     Carolina Act of 1999''.

     SEC. 2. DISTRICT JUDGES FOR THE NORTH CAROLINA DISTRICT 
                   COURTS.

       (a) In General.--The President shall appoint, by and with 
     the advice and consent of the Senate, 1 additional district 
     judge for the western district of North Carolina.
       (b) Temporary Judgeship.--
       (1) In general.--The President shall appoint, by and with 
     the advice and consent of the Senate, 1 additional district 
     judge for the western district of North Carolina.
       (2) First vacancy not filled.--The first vacancy in the 
     office of district judge in the western district of North 
     Carolina, occurring 7 years or more after the confirmation 
     date of the judge named to fill a temporary judgeship created 
     by this subsection, shall not be filled.
       (c) Tables.--In order that the table contained in section 
     133 of title 28, United States Code, will reflect the changes 
     in the total number of permanent district judgeships 
     authorized as a result of subsection (a) of this section, the 
     item relating to North Carolina in such table is amended to 
     read as follows:

``North Carolina:                                                  

  Eastern........................................................4 ....

  Middle.........................................................4 ....

  Western.....................................................4.''.....

     SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
     necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act, including 
     such sums as may be necessary to provide appropriate space 
     and facilities for the judicial positions created by this 
     Act.
                                 ______