Eastern District of California Blog

Chief Judge To Leave Federal Bench, Warns of EDCA Judge Shortage

According to gvwire, 10/8/18,

Judge Lawrence O’Neill is leaving the federal bench in 16 months. He’s circled the date on his calendar: Jan. 31, 2020.

But he’s concerned hyper-partisanship will delay his replacement and cause such crippling judicial gridlock that some suspects will have to go free.

Serving as the chief district judge for the Eastern District of California since 2016 (and on the federal bench since 1999), O’Neill told a Maddy Institute luncheon crowd last week of an impending crisis.

“We’re in trouble in the eastern district,” he said.

Judicial Shortage

The judge notes that there are only six district judges on staff (as well as 21 judges in other categories). Each has a load at any given time of 900 cases, more than twice the national average. The district stretches from the California-Oregon border, south through Kern County, with courts in Fresno, Sacramento, Bakersfield, Redding, and Yosemite National Park.

O’Neill isn’t the only judge planning to leave the federal bench. U.S. District Judge Morrison England (based in Sacramento) plans to retire next year.

Civil cases, especially involving water, would be in jeopardy, according to O’Neill. Criminal suspects could go free because there is just not enough time or space to try them at the federal court.

A June 2018 open letter, by O’Neill and eight other judges, warned that the lack of new judges and increased caseload “will result in an inescapable consequence of being wholly unable to handle civil matters.”

84 Federal Judicial Vacancies, Thanks Republicans!

While the single Supreme Court vacancy gets all the attention, let's not forget there are 84 federal judicial vacancies and a vast shortage of judges in many districts, including the EDCA.  This Marshal Project piece highlights the problem, with some nice quotes from EDCA Chief Judge Morrison C. England, Jr.

Senate Fills EDCA District Judge Vacancy After Only 1,069 Days

Magistrate Judge Dale A. Drozd was finally confirmed by the Senate 69-21 (10 abstentions) yesterday after 1,069 days of a vacant EDCA district judge slot. He'll start soon alongside Judge O'Neill as the only active district judges in Fresno.  

Of course, this is only a bandaid covering a severely overburdened court.  Even with help from visiting judges, habeas cases can wait more than two years for a decision and civil litigants have complained to me that relief sometimes becomes mooted by long delays.

Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing On Judge Drozd's Nomination Scheduled for Wednesday

Longtime Sacramento federal magistrate Judge Dale A. Drozd is again scheduled to get his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing next week, and local court officials hope this time the hearing actually happens.

A March hearing for Drozd was canceled, frustrating overworked Fresno judicial officials who say his confirmation is critical to the court’s operations. The hearing is scheduled Wednesday in Washington D.C.

“The vote is crucial,” U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill said. “We are cautiously optimistic for both Magistrate Judge Drozd — and the court.”

O’Neill is currently the only full-time judge in Fresno’s federal courthouse. Fellow U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii — who Drozd would replace if he eventually wins confirmation — is currently on senior status and working half-time.

When his replacement starts in Fresno, Ishii will further reduce his work to quarter-time.

Fresno Bee, 5/1/15

Fresno District Judge Confirmation Hearing Postponed Amidst Congress Deadlock

It looks like there is little help for the overburdened EDCA court in the near future.  The Fresno Bee, 3/13/15 reported that Magistrate Judge Drozd's confirmation hearing was cancelled and postponed indefinitely and the chances appear slim that Congress will act on the recommendation to add six EDCA district judge slots. 

EDCA Good News, Bad News

The good news is that the immigration reform bill that passed in the Senate last Thursday authorizes three new Eastern District judgeships.  The last successful legislation to add new federal judges passed in 2002.  Bills to increase the number of judges in the overloaded Eastern District have failed in several Congresses, but the Daily Journal reports that adding judgeships to the immigration reform bill may prove to be a better strategy.  The bill proposes eight new district-judge slots, with five going to districts bordering Mexico, while other provisions of the Senate bill call for increased border and immigration law enforcement.  Immigration cases continue to comprise over a quarter of criminal case filings in the EDCA.

The bad news is we have to rely on the Republican controlled house to do something constructive instead of just repeatedly voting to repeal ObamaCare.

Senate Immigration Bill May Add 3 Fresno District Judge Slots

The Fresno Bee, 6/8/13 reports the huge Senate immigration bill includes a provision adding three new district judgeships in the EDCA.  Now, how about President Obama nominate someone soon for the open Fresno district judge position, preferably one with a public defender or public interest background.  We're waiting.

Troy Nunley Confirmed As EDCA District Judge

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Troy Nunley was confirmed today by the Senate as a EDCA district judge.  SF Chronicle, 3/25/13

 

 

Judge Allison Claire Sworn In At Investiture Ceremony

That's my iphone photo of U.S. Magistrate Judge Allison Claire being officially sworn in yesterday in the Sacramento federal court's ceremonial courtroom.  (I added another photo to my twitter feed @balazslaw.)  Here's an excerpt from today's Sacramento Bee:

No one until now has made the jump from the federal public defender's office to the federal bench in Sacramento.

Those who know and have worked with Allison Claire describe her as "super smart," a hard worker and compassionate, and they harbor no doubt it will be an effortless transition for her.

Claire was officially sworn in Friday as Sacramento's seventh U.S. magistrate judge at an installation in the federal courthouse's ceremonial courtroom.

* * *

Claire, 52, is the first member of the federal judiciary in the nation, at any level, to be in a state-sanctioned same-sex marriage. She and her wife were married during the 4 1/2-month window – June 16 to Nov. 5, 2008 – between the California Supreme Court's validation of same-sex marriage and the passage of Proposition 8, an amendment to the state constitution outlawing it.

EDCA Struggles Over Workload, Judicial Shortage

A piece in yesterday's Daily Law Journal (subscription only at dailyjournal.com) indicates that EDCA Judicial nominee Troy Nunley may get a voice vote in the Senate before year's end.  The article highlights the shortage of EDCA district judges and the problems caused by overloaded caseloads.  Here's an excerpt:

In a sprawling district that stretches from the Oregon border through the Central Valley to the edge of Los Angeles County, judges must cope with the burdens of additional work due to the area's growing population. But judgeships haven't kept pace; the district hasn't added an Article III judge since 1978.

The problem is compounded, judges and lawyers say, by a disproportionate burden of habeas petitions and prison condition complaints from inmates in state and federal prisons within the district.

Nearly 2,400 prisoner petitions were filed in the Eastern District in 2011. Nearly 2,500 more were filed in the Central District of California, based in Los Angeles, together totalling about 12 percent of prisoner petitions nationwide. But it stings more in the Eastern District, where there are just six district judges to the Central District's 27.

"They're deluged with habeus cases," said Donald R. Fischbach, Fresno-based chair of business litigation for Dowling Aaron Inc. "There's all kinds of prisoner cases that just take a huge amount of time." 

Judges in the Eastern District, which includes courts in Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield, Yosemite and Redding, must handle a caseload more than double the national average. 

"To say we are the stepchild doesn't begin to even approach our situation." Karlton said. "We are desperate and nobody seems to care." 

If the senior judges weren't helping out, attorneys who practice in the district said they fear the time to trial would be even slower.

"In the last 15 years, 10 years, the length of time to get a case to trial realistically has doubled or tripled. Now I'm filing things, and things are looking like 2015," said Stewart Katz, a civil rights sole practitioner.