[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 28, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S1704]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BAYH (for himself and Mr. Lugar):
  S. 412. A bill to provide for a temporary Federal district judgeship 
for the southern district of Indiana; to the Committee on the 
Judiciary.
  Mr. BAYH. Mr. President, I rise today with Senator Richard Lugar to 
introduce the Southern District of Indiana Temporary Judgeship Act. 
This legislation creates an additional temporary judgeship for the 
Southern District of Indiana to help ease the strain that has resulted 
from an extremely heavy caseload of civil and criminal litigation.
  The Southern District is in dire need of an additional judge. Last 
year, the District's caseload was much higher than the national average 
and greater than any other court in the Seventh Circuit. In fact, there 
were 599 filings per judge, a number almost twenty percent greater than 
the national average of 474.
  In addition to an increase in the number of criminal cases filed in 
recent years, the Federal Bureau of Prisons death row, located at the 
United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, IN, is in the Southern 
District and houses approximately twenty-one inmates currently under a 
federal sentence of death. Hence, the Southern District also must be 
able to manage the habeas corpus petitions that are typically filed by 
death row inmates.
  Further, our State capital of Indianapolis is located in this 
district, and as a growing urban center, is significantly contributing 
to the number and complexity of the cases before the Southern District. 
Federal and local law enforcement are aggressively prosecuting drug 
crimes, but if we expect them to succeed in making our communities 
safer, we must give them the tools they need. An additional judgeship 
for the Southern District would be one such tool.
  There is wide support for an additional judgeship in this district. 
As early as 1996, the Judicial Conference recommended to Congress that 
the Southern District of Indiana receive a new temporary judgeship. In 
1999, the Judicial Conference again urged Congress to create a 
temporary judgeship for this district. The legislation Senator Lugar 
and I introduce today follows this recommendation and aims to aid the 
Southern District in the timely and efficient adjudication of its 
cases. I urge my colleagues to give this legislation their serious 
consideration and support.
  Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I rise today with Senator Evan Bayh to 
introduce the Southern District of Indiana Temporary Judgeship Act. 
This legislation will help remedy the strain experienced by the Federal 
Court for the Southern District of Indiana from its extremely heavy 
caseload.
  The Southern District's caseload far exceeds the national average and 
is more than any other district court in the 7th Circuit. Indeed, the 
most recent report of the Judicial Business of the United States Courts 
indicates that the Southern District had 599 filings per judge, 
compared to a national average of 474. Over the last 10 years, the area 
of Indiana comprising the Southern District has seen explosive 
population growth, the designation of the penitentiary at Terre Haute, 
IN, as the place of confinement for those sentenced to death under 
federal law, and a large increase in the amount of multi-district 
litigation. Yet, despite these changes, Indiana has not had a new 
judgeship added since 1990. I am pleased, therefore, to join with 
Senator Bayh to help ensure that the delivery of justice is unimpeded.
  There is wide agreement about the need for this additional judgeship, 
and the Judicial Conference of the United States has called upon 
Congress since 1996 to add a temporary judge to the Southern District. 
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
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