[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 47 (Wednesday, April 10, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2566-S2567]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Sessions, Mr. 
        Graham, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Lee, Mr. Cruz, and Mr. Flake):
  S. 699. A bill to reallocate Federal judgeships for the courts of 
appeals, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. President, today I am introducing the Court 
Efficiency Act, a bill that will help some of the nation's busiest 
courts. Hopefully, it will also ease some of the tension that arises 
during debates of D.C. Circuit Court nominees. I am pleased that 
Senators Hatch, Sessions, Graham, Cornyn, Lee, Cruz, and Flake are 
original co-sponsors.
  It is no secret that the D.C. Circuit is the least-busy, least-worked 
appellate court in the nation. By nearly every measurement taken by the 
Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the D.C. Circuit comes in a 
distant last. Here are three of the most common measurements using the 
most recent data available for the 12 months ending September 30, 2012.
  First, ``Total Appeals Filed.'' Total Appeals Filed measures the 
amount of work coming into the court. Simply put, it is the total 
number of appeals that a circuit court received in the last 12 months. 
The D.C. Circuit has 108 appeals per authorized judgeship, the lowest 
in the nation. To put this in perspective, the Second Circuit is 4 
times higher and the Eleventh Circuit, the busiest in the nation, is 
more than five times as high, with 583 appeals filed per authorized 
judge.
  Next, ``Total Appeals Terminated'' measures the amount of work the 
court is accomplishing. Once again, the D.C. Circuit is by far the 
lowest in the nation with 108 total appeals terminated per authorized 
judgeship. By comparison, the Second Circuit is 4 times higher and the 
Eleventh Circuit is 5 times higher, at 540 appeals terminated per 
authorized judgeship.
  Finally, ``Total Appeals Pending'' measures the amount of work before 
the court. In other words, it is the number of appeals the court hasn't 
yet addressed or the cases that are outstanding. The D.C. Circuit has 
120 appeals pending per authorized judgeship, which means it is 
essentially tied for last with the Tenth Circuit that has 115. In 
contrast, the Second Circuit and the Eleventh Circuit have 343 and 323 
appeals pending per authorized judgeship, respectively.
  Back during President Bush's administration, my friends on the other 
side of the aisle cited the light work load of that court in order to 
block qualified, non-controversial nominees. Since that time, the D.C. 
Circuit Court workload has only continued to decrease.
  Considering the imbalance between the workloads of the Circuits, my 
bill essentially reallocates those vacancies to other circuits that are 
much busier. The Court Efficiency Act does four things. First, it adds 
one seat to the Second Circuit. Second, it adds one seat to the 
Eleventh Circuit. Third, it reduces the number of authorized judgeships 
for the D.C. Circuit from 11 to 8. Fourth, it would become effective 
upon enactment.
  Adopting this bill would be a step towards rectifying the great 
workload disparities between the circuit courts. The Court Efficiency 
Act would ease some of the pressure on the Second and Eleventh 
circuits. By moving just one judgeship each to the Second and Eleventh 
circuits, we would lower each circuit's respective workload by 
approximately 7.5 percent. This reduction can be accomplished without 
jeopardizing the D.C. Circuit's status as the ``least-busy Circuit.'' 
Even after the D.C. Circuit is reduced to 8 seats, it would still be 
roughly half as busy as the Circuit median in appeals filed, 
terminated, and pending per authorized judgeship.
  I would also like to highlight several things that this bill will not 
do. First, it would not impact the President's current nominee to the 
D.C. Circuit, Mr. Srinivasan, whose hearing occurred earlier today. 
Instead, for the remaining three seats, it removes one and reallocates 
the other two.
  Second, the bill would not affect the president's opportunity to 
nominate two of those Circuit court vacancies. It simply reassigns 
those vacancies to other circuits that are clearly busier.
  Third, this legislation will be effective immediately, rather than 
postponing until the beginning of the next presidential term, as has 
been in the past. Immediate enactment will empower the President to 
quickly act to alleviate some of the heavy workloads of the Second and 
Eleventh Circuits.
  The bill will also save the taxpayer a significant amount of money 
annually. Although the bill has not been scored yet by the CBO, this 
estimate is based on previous estimates offered by the CBO when it has 
scored judgeship bills.
  The last time the D.C. Circuit had 11 nominees was the end of 1999. I 
want to move past the disagreements over the D.C. Circuit and shift 
these judges to circuits where there is a greater need to fill them.
  This is a common sense bill. It moves judges to where they are 
needed, a significant step in addressing the severe imbalance in the 
workloads of some of these circuit courts. It saves the taxpayers 
money. It doesn't negatively impact the D.C. Circuit Court. It won't 
affect President Obama's current nominee, Mr. Srinivasan. I urge my 
colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of this bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 699

       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 ``Court Efficiency Act of 
     2013''.

[[Page S2567]]

     SEC. 2. REALLOCATION OF FEDERAL JUDGESHIPS.

       (a) In General.--The President shall appoint, by and with 
     the advice and consent of the Senate--
       (1) 1 additional circuit judge for the second circuit court 
     of appeals; and
       (2) 1 additional circuit judge for the eleventh circuit 
     court of appeals.
       (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 44(a) of title 28, 
     United States Code, is amended in the table--
       (1) in the item relating to the District of Columbia 
     circuit court of appeals, by striking ``11'' and inserting 
     ``8'';
       (2) in the item relating to the second circuit court of 
     appeals, by striking ``13'' and inserting ``14''; and
       (3) in the item relating to the eleventh circuit court of 
     appeals, by striking ``12'' and inserting ``13''.
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