On Monday of this week, President Joe Biden placed yet another stumbling block in the road of the incoming Trump administration by slapping a veto on a bill that would have added a total of 66 federal district judgeships over a time span of 10 years, which was once a bipartisan effort that was designed to prevent either major political party from having a supreme advantage in the shaping of the federal judiciary. It seems the little time left for Biden is being dedicated to simply making life harder for the incoming president. Talk about a lack of moral character.
“Three presidential administrations, beginning with the incoming Trump administration, and six Congresses would have had the opportunity to appoint the new trial court judgeships, according to the legislation, which had support from organizations representing judges and attorneys,” Fox News reported. The White House said Biden is dead set on shooting down the bill, despite pleas from the organizations that having additional judgeships would help with cases that have seen some serious delays in resolution and would to help soothe fears concerning the issue of having access to justice.
In a statement, Biden said he made his decision because the “hurried action” by the House of Representatives left open questions about “life-tenured” positions.
“The House of Representative’s hurried action fails to resolve key questions in the legislation, especially regarding how the new judgeships are allocated, and neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate explored fully how the work of senior status judges and magistrate judges affects the need for new judgeships,” Biden said. “The efficient and effective administration of justice requires that these questions about need and allocation be further studied and answered before we create permanent judgeships for life-tenured judges,” Biden added. He said the bill would also have created new judgeships in states where senators have not filled existing judicial vacancies and that those efforts “suggest that concerns about judicial economy and caseload are not the true motivating force behind passage of this bill now.
When news of Biden’s impending veto for the bill popped up earlier in the month, Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy spoke with “America’s Newsroom” and stated that the act is nothing more than “the last spasm of a lame-duck.”
“President Biden and his team don’t want to allow it to become law simply because a Republican administration would get to appoint some of the judges,” Kennedy went on to say about the legislation. “I wish they’d put the country first,” the senator continued.
The legislation was passed unanimously in August under the Democratic-controlled Senate, though the Republican-led House brought the measure to the floor only after Donald Trump was reelected president in November, creating an air of political gamesmanship.
By vetoing the bill, the legislation will be shelved for the current Congress. In order to overturn it, a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate would be required. The House, unfortunately fell short of that margin.