H.R. 1856: Creating Additional Seats to Ease Legally Overburdened Adjudicators’ Dockets Act of 2025

This bill, known as the Creating Additional Seats to Ease Legally Overburdened Adjudicators’ Dockets Act of 2025, aims to address the high caseload in the federal district court for the Eastern District of California. The key actions proposed in the bill include:

Findings

1. The Eastern District of California is a significant judicial district serving approximately 8.4 million residents across 34 counties, including some of the fastest-growing cities in California.

2. Currently, there are only six permanent judgeships in this large district, and one judgeship will soon be vacant. This creates a disproportionately high caseload compared to other districts. For example, the average pending cases per judgeship in this district is 1,308, which is significantly higher than the national average.

Additional Judgeships

The bill proposes to add three new district judgeships in the Eastern District of California over a span of several years:

• 2027: Two additional judges will be appointed on or after January 21, 2027.
• 2029: One additional judge will be appointed on or after January 5, 2029.
• 2031: Two more judges will be appointed on or after January 21, 2031.

Clerical Amendments

As part of the bill, the law will require updates to the existing legal codes to reflect the new judgeships. This includes amending the table that lists the number of judgeships in each district to include the new positions for California.

Authorization of Appropriations

The bill also includes provisions for funding, stating that necessary appropriations will be authorized to address the costs associated with the new judicial positions, including any required facilities and space needed to accommodate these judges.

Relevant Companies

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