Congestion in the Courts

Report Outline
Shortage of Judge and Delays in Court
Causes of Persisting Court Congestion
Procedural Changes to Expedite Justice

Shortage of Judge and Delays in Court

Need to Create Additional Federal Judgeships

Enactment of legislation creating additional federal judgeships to help relieve the heavy work load of the federal judiciary will be one of the urgent tasks facing the 87th Congress when it convenes in January. Federal dockets, especially in the district courts, are badly crowded. From 25 to 50 new judgeships are needed to eliminate congestion which in some jurisdictions now delays actual trial of cases for as much as four years.

The situation in the federal courts has got so far out of hand that, if no new cases were filed next year, it would still take more than 11 months to dispose of the 75,000 civil and criminal cases already pending. Attorney General William P. Rogers, addressing a closed session of the Judicial Conference of the United States last Sept. 21, said that new judgeships were necessary “if the federal system is to cope with the increased litigation arising from our expanding population.”

Chief Justice Earl Warren told the American Bar Association as long ago as August 1958 that: