[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16868-16869]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        REALIGNMENT OF SOUTHERN JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI

  Mr. HOLDING. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 2871) to amend title 28, United States Code, to modify the 
composition of the southern judicial district of Mississippi to improve 
judicial efficiency, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 2871

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

     SECTION 1. REALIGNMENT OF SOUTHERN JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF 
                   MISSISSIPPI.

       Section 104(b) of title 28, United States Code, is amended 
     to read as follows:

                          ``Southern District

       ``(b) The southern district comprises four divisions.
       ``(1) The Northern Division comprises the counties of 
     Copiah, Hinds, Holmes, Issaquena, Kemper, Lauderdale, Leake, 
     Madison, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Rankin, Scott, Simpson, 
     Sharkey, Smith, Warren, and Yazoo.

     Court for the Northern Division shall be held at Jackson.
       ``(2) The Southern Division comprises the counties of 
     George, Greene, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River, and 
     Stone.

     Court for the Southern Division shall be held at Gulfport.
       ``(3) The Eastern Division comprises the counties of 
     Clarke, Covington, Forrest, Jasper, Jefferson Davis, Jones, 
     Lamar, Lawrence, Marion, Perry, Wayne, and Walthall.

     Court for the Eastern Division shall be held at Hattiesburg.
       ``(4) The Western Division comprises the counties of Adams, 
     Amite, Claiborne, Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, Pike, and 
     Wilkinson.

     Court for the Western Division shall be held at Natchez.''.

     SEC. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.

       This Act and the amendment made by this Act shall take 
     effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Holding) and the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. 
Watt) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Holding).


                             General Leave

  Mr. HOLDING. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2871.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from North Carolina?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. HOLDING. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  H.R. 2871 is a simple and straightforward bill that responds to a 
single question: How should the Federal judicial districts in 
Mississippi be organized to best serve the needs of litigants, jurors, 
the bar, and the public once the Meridian, Mississippi, courthouse is 
permanently closed?
  The answer was developed by an ad hoc committee of judges that was 
formed late last year; and to their credit, they fashioned a solution 
that has been reviewed and endorsed by everyone from the affected local 
bar associations and the Inns of Court to the Judicial Conference of 
the United States.
  Specifically, the committee recommended, one, abolishing the Southern 
District's current Eastern Division; two, modifying the statutory 
designations of places to hold court; three, realigning the remaining 
four divisions and places of holding court; and, four, renaming the 
realigned divisions.
  The judiciary and offices within the Department of Justice have 
reported that they will achieve significant cost savings when this 
proposal is fully implemented. Quite simply, Mr. Speaker, the sooner we 
enact this bill, the sooner these savings can be realized.
  But beyond the goal of containing unnecessary costs, this legislation 
is a priority since the affected courts are engaged in the time-
consuming and expensive process of replenishing their jury wheel. That 
process requires the courts to identify the names of possible jurors 
for criminal trials and grand jury service for the next 4 years and to 
provide proportional representation under the new divisions. And that 
process is on hold until Congress passes and the President signs this 
bill.
  Acting through the Administrative Office of the Courts, the judiciary 
approached the gentleman from North Carolina, the chairman of the 
Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet Subcommittee, 
Representative Howard Coble. Chairman Coble immediately recognized the 
importance of moving this legislation expeditiously and personally 
committed his efforts to ensure its passage.
  On behalf of the full committee chairman, the gentleman from Virginia 
(Mr. Goodlatte), I also want to recognize the efforts of the ranking 
member, Mr. Watt, and the other cosponsors of this bill, which include 
Representatives Harper, Thompson, and Palazzo from Mississippi, for 
their bipartisan support and advocacy.
  The Committee on the Judiciary reported this bill unanimously in 
September. It is supported not only by those that I have mentioned, but 
also by Senators Cochran and Wicker from Mississippi, who are committed 
to doing everything possible to advance

[[Page 16869]]

the bill through the other body without delay.
  In summary, this is a good bill and it is urgently needed to ensure 
the Federal courts in Mississippi are authorized and organized to 
function in the most economically efficient and least disruptive manner 
as possible. I urge my colleagues to support its passage.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WATT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2871, which I am pleased to be 
a cosponsor of. This straightforward, bipartisan measure will realign 
the Southern District of Mississippi. The bill has widespread support 
that includes Representative Bennie Thompson, who represents a part of 
Mississippi, as well as the affected judges and local bar.
  Rarely is a bill introduced that is forthright, uncomplicated, has 
universal bipartisan support, and is expected to save money. H.R. 2871 
has all of these characteristics.
  The bill simply reorganizes the existing district into four divisions 
which will be designated as northern, southern, eastern, and western 
divisions. This simple reorganization is estimated to save 
approximately $135,000 due to reduced expenditures for juries and the 
services of the U.S. Marshals. I urge my colleagues to support this 
commonsense measure.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HOLDING. Mr. Speaker, it is with pleasure that I yield such time 
as he may consume to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Coble), the 
leader of the North Carolina delegation and the chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Courts.
  Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for 
yielding me this time.
  Both gentlemen from North Carolina have pretty well covered this 
issue, and I will try to not be repetitive.
  I rise in support of H.R. 2871.
  The legislation will realign the Southern Judicial District in 
Mississippi. It has been reviewed and is fully supported by members of 
the majority and the minority from Mississippi.
  H.R. 2871 was introduced in response to a plan originally developed 
by a committee of Federal judges from Mississippi, which was charged 
with formulating a plan to close the Meridian courthouse. This 
courthouse is the only court facility located in the Eastern Division 
of Mississippi's Southern Judicial District. The primary goal of the 
judges' committee was to recommend a realignment that best serves the 
needs of litigants, jurors, the bar, and the public.
  Given the review and endorsement of the Judicial Conference, the 
Fifth Circuit Judicial Council, the judges, U.S. attorney, and Federal 
public defender, local bar association, and Inns of Court, it appears 
that the judges performed their duty in an exemplary fashion.

                              {time}  1800

  In brief, H.R. 2871, Mr. Speaker, aligns and redesignates the 
judicial districts and places of holding court in Mississippi to 
improve the judicial efficiency.
  The CBO estimates that H.R. 2871 will create no budgetary impact. Its 
enactment will enable the affected judges, bar, and the public to be 
better served by a more rational structure, organization, and 
composition of Federal judicial districts in Mississippi and permit the 
Federal judiciary and the Department of Justice to achieve substantial 
cost savings.
  H.R. 2871 is a good bill, as has been pointed out, and I encourage my 
colleagues to support that proposal.
  Mr. WATT. Mr. Speaker, as I have no further speakers, I urge my 
colleagues to support this bipartisan, commonsense bill, and I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  Mr. HOLDING. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank very much Chairman Coble 
for his words. I also want to thank him for his friendship and his 
mentorship and the leadership that he has shown in this body on the 
Judiciary Committee, and particularly on the subcommittee for 
intellectual property and the courts.
  I urge my colleagues to join with us in support of this bipartisan, 
commonsense legislation to efficiently reorganize the courts in 
Mississippi, and I urge a ``yes'' vote on this.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2871 but also 
ask that this body continue to work assiduously on the remaining budget 
matters so that the judicial branch has the funding to do its work that 
every American has a fair trial--and that they do not have to drive so 
far that they need to camp out overnight.
  In 2012, the Judicial Conference of the United States recommended 
that certain federal court facilities be closed. This includes leased 
court space in Meridian, Mississippi. An ad hoc committee of judges, 
which included the Chief U.S. District Judge for the Southern District 
of Mississippi, was convened to review the issues created by the 
closure and to recommend the best course of action. I am aware like 
most Members, that cost-savings are extremely important--but we should 
be mindful of any perceived inconveniences to plaintiffs and 
defendants--in a state that is regularly ranked one of the poorest.
  Moreover, with numerous nominees of President Obama being held up in 
the Senate via a nominations process that has in fact become an 
allegations process, I am also inclined to agree with the judgment of 
the Judicial Conference of the United States and the Chief Justice of 
the United States that additional judgeships should be created in many 
parts of the country in order to ensure that the Constitution's promise 
of justice is fulfilled.
  But the need for Congress to create new judgeships aside, I believe 
the first step in resolving the crisis in our courts is to fill all the 
existing district and circuit court seats. As of today, there are 91 
total vacancies--74 in district courts and 17 in circuit courts. 
Astonishingly, there are more empty judgeships now than when President 
Obama took office, almost five years ago. So while it may be 
appropriate to eradicate duplicity--let this House institute other 
reforms in a bipartisan manner so that access to justice is not an 
abstract notion. Indeed though--we all know that the Senate holds 
nearly all the cards in this part of the discussion.
  We must ultimately consider the effect the proposed changes have on 
the court's efficiency and stability of the rule of law in the circuit. 
My experience is that a decrease in space might lead one to believe 
that justice might be negatively affected but considering that my 
colleagues from both sides of the aisle are in full support--we must 
wait and see and hope that justice is not too deliberate in the 
affected areas of Mississippi.
  The chief argument for this legislation is cost-cutting and 
simplification--but the Judicial Committee did this with an eye on the 
budget matters that we have dealt with in this body and Mr. Speaker, I 
must say that if the cost-savings do not injure the provision of 
justice then this legislation is supportable in its present form.
  I urge my colleagues to Support this important legislation.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Holding) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2871.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. HOLDING. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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