First Regular Session
Sixty-second General Assembly
LLS NO. R990752.01 Jeff
Conway
STATE OF COLORADO
BY REPRESENTATIVES Grossman and Kaufman
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 99-1050
CONCERNING A REQUEST TO EXPEDITE FEDERAL JUDICIAL
NOMINATIONS.
WHEREAS, Pursuant to the United States Constitution,
the President shares the responsibility with the U.S. Senate for
filling vacancies on the federal bench by nominating federal judges
and making such appointments by and with the advice and consent
of the U.S. Senate; and
WHEREAS, Congress has not created any new judgeships
since 1990, but the federal district court caseload has increased
24% during that same time; and
WHEREAS, The Judicial Conference of the United States
recommended in 1996 that one temporary and one permanent judgeship
be created for the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado,
but Congress has yet to act on that recommendation; and
WHEREAS, Judge Zita Weinshienk of the U.S. District
Court for the District of Colorado took senior status in April
1998, thus creating a vacancy in the federal judiciary serving
Colorado, and that vacancy has not yet been filled; and
WHEREAS, Colorado has had its current complement
of 7 federal district judgeships since 1984, and in that time
the state's population has grown more than 22%; and
WHEREAS, In the U.S. District Court for the District
of Colorado, it now takes nearly two years for an average civil
case to go to trial, and the district ranks 79th out
of 94 federal judicial districts in the country for the number
of civil cases that have been pending more than three years; and
WHEREAS, The civil caseload in the U.S. District
Court for the District of Colorado has increased more than 16%
over the four years of 19931997, and nearly onefifth
of all pending motions in all federal district courts are in the
District of Colorado; and
WHEREAS, The criminal caseload in the District of
Colorado has increased more than 50% in the last decade, and for
the first time in 26 years, national federal criminal filings
experienced a doubledigit increase in one year, a 15% increase
for 1998; and
WHEREAS, Chief Justice Rehnquist has maintained that
judicial vacancies contribute to a backlog of cases, undue delays
in civil cases, and stopgap measures to shift judicial personnel;
and
WHEREAS, As of February 1999, there are 41 federal
district court judgeships that remain vacant, and there are now
25 vacancies in the federal judiciary that have been awaiting
Senate disposition for 18 months or longer and now constitute
"judicial emergencies"; and
WHEREAS, The U.S. Senate confirmed only 65 federal
judges in 1998, compared to confirming 101 judges in 1994; and
WHEREAS, In his 1998 annual report, Chief Justice
Rehnquist asserted that: "Vacancies cannot remain at such
high levels indefinitely without eroding the quality of justice
that traditionally has been associated with the federal judiciary";
now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives
of the Sixtysecond General Assembly of the State of Colorado,
the Senate concurring herein:
(1) That the General Assembly requests
the President of the United States to timely nominate qualified
persons for federal judgeships, including a nominee for the pending
vacancy in Colorado.
(2) That the General Assembly requests
the U.S. Senate to timely act upon all pending and future nominations
for federal judgeships.
(3) That the General Assembly requests
the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. Senate to timely review and
act upon the qualifications of nominees for the federal judiciary
and, after the necessary time for inquiry, to so inform the rest
of the Senate and to bring pending nominations to prompt resolution.
(4) That the General Assembly expresses
its concern to both the President and the U.S. Senate regarding
the continuing harm to the state of the federal judiciary due
to a prolonged nomination and confirmation process.
Be It Further Resolved, That
copies of this Joint Resolution be sent to the President of the
United States, Senator Wayne Allard, and Senator Ben Nighthorse
Campbell, and, in addition, to all other members of the United
States Senate, including members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.